The Cursed One
by Zeer
Summary: Sequel to The Wicked One. Life has settled down for both Kyd Wykkyd and See-More as much as it can. But lies, betrayal, and war loom on the horizon. Tamaran has declared war on Earth and her allies, a reluctant Starfire forced into a deadly seat of power. If the world is to survive new alliances have to be formed.
1. One Day

**Back and hopefully better than ever this story is a direct sequel to one of my other stories, The Wicked One, so if you haven't already read it I would highly suggest you do so. Though a synopsis of the story can be posted upon request. But I digress. To new and old readers of Kyd Wykkyd's story alike I welcome you and hope very much you enjoy reading.**

**Disclaimer****: Oh and I don't own Kyd, See-More, Jinx, Red-X, Fixit, the Titans, or anyone else in the Teen Titans universe.**

**The Cursed One**

**Chapter One: One Day**

**XXXXXX**

The guards were taken out easily enough. He was honestly surprised about the lack of efficiency outside. Did they really believe they would be so unnoticed standing around a manhole in the back alleys of Jump City?

Well…maybe. But still, if they were guarding what he believed they were guarding shouldn't they at least have been slightly on guard?

Shrugging it off and blaming their inability on his superior skills the caped figure carefully dragged the two men into the shadows of a nearby alley before turning his attention back on the manhole they were supposed to be guarding. Pulling out a crowbar from behind his back the young man carefully and quietly lifted up one side of the heavy metal covering before taking it in both his hands and laying it back on the ground. With a small sigh of relief after releasing the weight the figure quickly checked his surroundings, making sure he was alone, before jumping straight into the hole.

He landed into the sewage water below with an echoing splash. The figure quickly jumped from the water and pressed himself against the slime covered walls, hiding away from the moonlight that now poured down from the missing manhole cover above. The concrete path he stood on against the wall was too small to be any sort of path for walking to and fro, but he wasn't that bad on his feet and having to balance the whole way was a lot better than splashing through dirty water.

So keeping one hand against the wall the nimble figure began to carefully, but quickly make his way down the sewage tunnel, keeping his ears open for any sounds of splashing. It quickly became pitch dark as he left the uncovered manhole behind but thanks to his trusty mask with night-vision installed into the eyeholes he could see just fine. It really never stopped being funny to him how a hero could help someone do so many bad things.

The large sewage pipe he traveled in quickly began to split off into many different pipes, those diverging pipes splitting into more themselves. The caped boy wondered for a moment why nobody ever tried to hide anything in sewers more often; it would save them the trouble of building their own security systems and defenses to keep them away. The maze-like pipes and the smell alone would drive off many would be thieves.

Unless a certain thief had a mask that kept scents away and a map he stole from one of the guards. The figure thought this as he pulled out the map in question. The number of lines that were supposed to represent the pipes in the system was mindboggling-it was like looking at some two year old's drawing of a bunch of squiggly lines. Thankfully the maker of this map was kind enough to draw out the correct pipe pathway's in red.

"It's always red…" The figure commented to himself as he began his way through the branching off pipes.

Seconds dragged into minutes which quickly began to drag into hours. The place was a maze in nearly every sense of the word. He knew that if he didn't have this map he would surely have been lost without any hopes of escape, even following the red lines on the paper was proving to be challenging. More than once he found himself back tracking when he realized he had taken the wrong pipeline.

"This damn thing better still be here…"

Not that he could imagine anyone have the determination or patience to actually come back down here and move it. Even if they suspected he would be on their trail, which they shouldn't. He was supposed to be running from them, not chasing them.

He shook his head as he lowered the map. He was entering the final pipe before he would reach his destination. If he really was having any doubts at this point it was too late now to go back.

After only walking down the pipe for several minutes he could already made out a dull blue glow somewhere far down the pipe he was walking. A few more minutes later and he was approaching the bend that the glow lay behind. When he got close enough he quickly jumped into the water before pressing himself against the wall right before it turned off into the glow. He waited until the noise of the splash died down before peering slowly around the corner.

It was a computer monitor. A rather large one that seemingly was built directly into the back wall of the dead end that the pipe eventually led into. All around it were wires and other expensive looking equipment that stuck into the wall. The glow itself came from the various lights that covered the equipment, the screen itself was black.

Quickly making sure that no one else was around the caped teen stepped back into the sewage water before making his way quickly over to the monitor. While he didn't see or discover any security monitors of any kind as he traveled through the pipes that didn't exactly mean his presence couldn't be found by some other matter. He would only give himself about a minute to do this. Folding the map and placing it in the pouch behind his back he then pulled out a simple computer chip that was glowing a dull red color. The caped teen quickly scanned the screen and equipment before finding a small slot in which to insert the chip.

"Alright Fixit, time to do your thing." The young man spoke under his breath as he forced the chip into the slot.

Static quickly began to spark throughout the wires and machinery but the caped figure simply waited. Soon enough the sparse bursts of electricity began to die down the blue glow from the lights almost instantly replaced with a shining red glow. The previously black screen then turned on filling the hallway in light when a white screen replaced the previous blackness. As he watched, a single sentence typed itself out on the screen.

**What information do you seek?**

"Number 36." The masked figure said almost immediately after reading the words.

Without another pause a document suddenly appeared. The teen's eyes immediately danced over the picture in the top left hand corner. It was of a boy, looking no older than eleven or twelve, with dark eyes and messy black hair. An unhappy frown decorated a very pale face.

"Found you." He whispered as he began to approach the screen.

It was just as he took his first few steps that he knew someone was behind him. On a hunch he jumped to the side. Immediately a sharp pain rung out from his shoulder as he felt something easily tear through the clothing and skin that protected it. The terrible burning sensation that came afterwards threw him off guard as he hit the slick side of the pipe with his back.

He didn't have time to register what had attacked him, for whatever had cut through his shoulder didn't stop its attack that, instead of cleaving through him, smashed into the screen. So even as the masked teen struggled to remain on his feet the sudden electrical surge from the damaged device brought his head up just in time to see a caped figure with bright red eyes before the electricity died and everything fell into darkness.

Well, it would have if not for the eye holes in the teen's mask allowing him to see in the dark. And while he wasn't exactly thrilled that he could still see the red eyed thing that attacked him he was grateful that it allowed him to be able to roll away from the black claw that was suddenly thrust towards him. He heard the ear popping sound of twisted metal as the claw easily tore through the metal pipe where the masked teen had originally been standing. He didn't allow himself to look back as he began running down the pipe again.

He ran as fast as he could. Ignoring the heavy splashes his feet made in the water. Ignoring his heavy bringing that echoed loudly in the sewer. There was no sense in hiding from that thing, somehow he knew that. Somehow he knew that he could only run if he wanted to survive.

He didn't slow down until he reached the part where the pipeline he was running down branched off into several new pipes. He reached into the pouch behind him, only slowing down enough so that he could properly read the map. He tried to steady his nerves as he continued to run, but he knew if he had to stop and read he would be dead.

Eyes quickly scanning over the paper he finally found the place he was at and the red line of the pipe he had to follow. He looked back up to see how close he was until the intersection, only to find bright red eyes staring back at him.

He jumped backwards in reflex. He was forced to cry out this time as something scraped across the arm that was still holding the map. He barely had enough time to register that the map was torn to shreds as he was forced to let it go in an attempt to pull his fingers away from the attack. He fell backwards into the water, gripping the burning fire that was his arm. It burned with a pain worse than any he had felt before but it was still there, it-.

His vision suddenly vanished as something slashed across his face as he tried to sit up. He heard the sounds of rushing water and air as he slid through the sewer water. He stood up and began running again as soon as he had stopped sliding. Thankfully the night vision came back and even though it was only in one eye, and it was hazy at best, it was still enough for him to dodge the claw that was aimed at his head again before he began running. He ran down the nearest pipe in the intersection, burning arm now flailing uselessly at his side.

Arm or no arm, map or no map, he had to get away. He had to keep running. If he let that thing catch up to him again, he knew he was going to die.

**XXXXXX**

I tucked the scarf further up my face as a breeze rolled in. Of course since it was the only hand I could use See-More turned his head a fraction in my direction when his wheelchair stopped moving.

"Everything alright Kyd?" He asked me. I nodded in reflex but quickly catching myself I was reduced to patting him gently on the shoulder.

See-More kept his head turned towards me for a few moments before smiling in acceptance and turning his head in the direction of the sidewalk we were walking down. I looked down it as well as I gripped a handle on his wheelchair and continued walking.

There were a lot of people out shopping today. Which meant a lot of people staring at the strange duo of two boys, dressed in jeans and jackets with hoods pulled up to hide their eyes. One sitting peacefully in a wheelchair while the other pushed him with one hand, the other heavily wrapped in a cast and sling. I had hoped that just their staring would be enough but a few overzealous people even tried offering to help push him, only to be quickly turned away by the shake of my head or See-More's 'thanks but no thanks' words of reassurance. I noticed a little girl clutch the hem of her mother's coat as we passed by, looking at me fearfully.

I let out a silent sigh as I turned away. This really was a bad idea. I could understand Jinx's desire for fresh food, the canned food Red-X had left them was beginning to get a little bland after a few months, but she really was better suited for shopping.

But no. She had some 'pressing engagements' but 'would promise to make them something great for dinner' if I would go shopping for her. And while that in itself wasn't the problem there was still…

I glanced at the back of See-More's head. I half expected to see it whirling around in every which direction until I quickly remembered why he wasn't. My friend simply sat still and unmoving, almost as though he was trying to absorb his surroundings.

He insisted that he would tag along as soon as he heard that I was going out into the city. Of course Jinx refused as soon as she heard that he had heard. But See-More always had a way with her and while he managed to convince her he had become healthy enough that he could go outside she insisted that he remain in a wheelchair. See-More had attempted to back down from the original idea of going, knowing that being in a wheelchair would only be a hassle to me, but I let him know it was fine.

So really I shouldn't be complaining since this whole circumstance was my fault. And while See-More couldn't look it he did seem happy that he was out in the city again. Even if the atmosphere of the woods and greenery that surrounded the mansion was nice it really didn't compare to the city we had both lived in for years. I too found myself fighting back a nostalgic smile as I looked around at all the buildings and concrete, even the bustling crowds had a nice feel to it.

"Hey Kyd…" See-More spoke up, drawing my attention away from our surroundings, "Do you think…do you think we could see the guys sometime?"

I could only stare at the back of his head.

"I mean they gotta be worried about us right? So like…we should let them know that we're alright…and Jinx is on our side again now! So…we could even get the whole gang back together…if we wanted…"

See-More trailed off and silence filled the space around us. I know he knew how dumb it sounded, without me thinking of some way to tell him. He was in no condition right now to do any of the stuff he used to do. And even if Jinx might be helping us right now there was no way for sure that he or I could fully trust her again, and I knew the same would go for the Gizmo and Mammoth who had been closer to her than any of us. Even Billy would hold a big grudge against her for what she did, even if he might seem like a clueless moron he definitely had a strong belief in trust. And I…

I felt something move in the cast as I thought.

I had my own problems.

"Sorry...I guess that was a pretty dumb idea huh?" He said softly, chuckling a little to try and break the tension, "It's just like…for all the trouble we went through to bust them out…we can't even see them to rub it in their faces…you know?...it sucks…"

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me. I knew it sucked. I could only watch from the shadows when they got freed. From what I heard their memory must have gotten a little hazy after spending so long frozen in those cells, even to the point where they didn't seem to notice that See-More, Jinx, nor I were with them. I guess that had its benefits, but how long would that last? And would they even bother to look for See-More or I if they remembered? Would they try and look for Jinx for revenge?

That second question I highly doubted. It wasn't like See-More or I was really close to the others when we were all a team. To be honest with myself I really only decided to help free them because I was afraid of being alone again…that and Number 26 threatening my life with that collar of hers should I have refused to help her. But getting revenge on Jinx? Gizmo and Mammoth didn't really seem the type, and while Billy has trust issues I don't think he really cared about Jinx enough to go out of his way to get her back.

So really, as long as we didn't run into them randomly we would probably never see or hear from them again-.

The high pitched ringing of a security alarm suddenly broke through my train of thought. See-More and I, as well as many of the people who were around us, all turned our heads in the direction of the sound.

It was a food market, actually the very same market I was directing See-More towards. The once sliding glass doors had been just recently blown open and while we all looked on people were running frantically out of the store. Hot on their heels was a small, bald child zooming through the air with the use of his jet back, a bag of groceries clutched in his little hands. After him came out a large, hairy teen who was clutching at least ten bags of groceries in his massive arms. And after him came a succession of identical looking teens in red suits, each one caring two bags of groceries in their arms.

At least they were considerate enough to bag the food before they stole it.

Wait.

I froze then, why I hadn't stopped before was a question for the ages, but I stopped then.

"Kyd? Hey man, what's going on? Sounds like a place is gettin' robbed…" See-More spoke, his eyeless face turned slightly to look at me so I could see the playful grin, "Were you plannin' on surprising me with our first heist together since we saved our friends?"

I quickly shook my head only to rub a hand over my face in frustration of the situation and my continual stupidity. The people around us were beginning to run off in random directions. I looked back in the direction of the shop to see why. The trio of idiots were making their getaway right in our direction.

Crap.

In reflex I reached down for the cape safely hidden underneath the coat I was wearing. I paused though. Right now they were clearly looking in our direction. But to them we just looked like another couple of pedestrians…but if I used my cape to get us to safety…they will definitely know something is up.

Seeing no other option I gripped one of the handle's on See-More's wheelchair tightly before spinning us around and running back down the sidewalk.

"Whoa man! What's going on? Are you making your getaway now!"

I continued to run, looking around for any alleyway or store we could make a quick escape into. Though as luck would have it all store owners have mysteriously closed down for the day and somehow positioned their stores close enough that every little alleyway we passed was not wide enough to be wheelchair accessible.

I didn't try and let it trouble me, however. As long as I kept running I could at least remain out of their way until I reach another street or something to veer off into-.

"Move it or lose it bub!" Gizmo suddenly shot at me as he flew past. Almost immediately afterwards I could hear heavy footsteps approaching from behind.

Guess not.

"Out of the way!" I heard Mammoth shout from behind, close enough to feel the vibrations from his booming voice.

Down to one option yet again I led See-More and I off the sidewalk and into the streets, grateful of the mysterious lack of cars. Not a second later Mammoth bounded past us down the sidewalk, his huge feet sending tremors out from the ground as he ran.

I let out a silent sight of relief, stopping in the street for a second to catch my breath.

"Hey Kyd…" See-More spoke up, his head looking down the street at the back of me, "I feel…shaking…"

It was just then that I felt it as well. Not wanting to but doing so anyways I looked to where See-More was looking. There I saw a sea of red. More Billy's than I could count. In their arms were enough bags of food to empty out that entire shop. The stampede they were causing as they approached us felt like an earthquake.

I gripped my cape this time. There were enough Billy's that both the street and sidewalk were blocked off as they approached.

"Gang way for the Billy-pede!" Many of them were shouting.

I went to pull the cape over both See-More and I only to find that See-More was no longer right beside me. Instead he was slowly pushing the wheels on his wheelchair towards the avalanche of Billy's.

"I think that's Billy, man!" See-More called out to me before raising and arm and waving to them, "Hey Billy! It's me! It's-!"

I ran up to See-More and wrapped a hand over his mouth just as the Billy's descended upon us. I couldn't see anything but red as they past us. I couldn't hear anything but a sea of Billy voices talking all at once. I felt some brush past me. I could feel their eyes on us.

Without another pause I threw off the coat, the piece of clothing immediately torn away and lost in the wave of teens. I gripped my now free cape and without looking I pulled it over See-More and I.

The brief window of darkness drowned out all the sounds of Billy voices and feet. And when we appeared back into the world it remained quiet, save for the gentle breeze and rustling of the numerous trees.

I stepped back away from See-More. I had been nervous that I wouldn't be able to fit both us and the wheelchair so it was a relief to see him still sitting in it. He remained facing away from me, his head at first was unmoving, but soon it began looking around.

"We're back at the mansion…aren't we?" He asked quietly. I just looked at him and after a few seconds he let out a defeated sigh. "Ah man…I guess…I guess that was too much to ask for…"

Did he mean trying to get Billy's attention?

"But hey…" See-More sounded marginally happier when he spoke again, and as I watched him his arms slowly rose above his head, revealing a single grocery bag clutched in his hands, "He gave us a gift!...Or dropped us a gift anyways."

He then looked back to me, a happy smile on his face, and even though I knew he couldn't see it I couldn't help but smile back.

**XXXXXX**

"This is a bag of candy…" Jinx said, a very obvious hint of disappointment in her voice as she looked into the contents of the bag.

She looked back at us across the expansive dining room table, the disappointment even more evident in her face. I opted to look away, instead looking over at See-More who was giving her a sheepish grin.

"Well hey, it's not our fault! You see-!"

He cut himself off as I kicked him gently under the table. I wasn't sure just yet why I should be hiding the fact that we ran into the other FIVE members but I felt confident that we should. See-More coughed awkwardly as Jinx's eyes flashed from him to me and back again.

"Well…it wasn't _my _fault…"

I let out a silent groan as Jinx's accusing glare fixed back on me. Great cover See-More.

I switched my focus to the shiny and expensive looking china that decorated the table as Jinx continued her glaring at my face. Finally she let out a hopeless sigh before standing up from the table. I looked back in her direction to see that she was making her way towards the kitchen.

"Honestly Kyd, I would have never guessed you had such a big sweet tooth," She commented, peering back into the bag as she continued to walk, "Looks like we'll be having canned chicken, beans, and twizzlers for dinner tonight."

I let my heavy head face plant into the table, ignoring the stinging pain in my forehead. Even though it wasn't exactly my fault I couldn't help but feel that I failed tonight.

"Yo man, sorry about that." See-More whispered to me despite Jinx being well out of ear shot by now, "It was all I could think of at the moment…" Knowing that I couldn't respond he quickly moved on, "So why'd you wanna keep it a secret about what happened today? You afraid that she might go after them or somethin'?"

Silence. See-More's mouth formed a confused frown for a second before letting out a gasp before slapping his head. I observed this from my continual position of head against table.

"Ah man I can't even see you nod or shake your head anymore! Man this is annoying…okay okay, let's do this…tap my arm once for yes and two for no…and er three for maybe or I don't know…got it?"

I prepared to nod my head but quickly caught myself. Instead I reached over with my good hand and tapped him once on the arm. A beam quickly filled the un-bandaged part of his face.

"Alright, awesome! At least now I can ask you stuff still!"

I nodded this time, silently wondering why this sort of issue for communication hadn't come up already. Then again this was probably the most talkative he had been since waking up months ago. In fact I couldn't even remember the last time I had seen him smile as much as he had been today. For the past two months he had acted more like some lifeless doll. It was worse when I still had to bathe him and give him injections every day but even when he began to move around again on his own he still seemed lifeless.

"Okay uh… was that really Billy, Gizmo and Mammoth out there?"

See-More was still whispering to me. I could faintly hear the sounds of the oven far down the hall from where we were sitting. Unless Jinx was really intent on hearing what we were saying I figured he could speak normally to me…but, better safe than sorry I suppose.

I tapped him once on the arm as a response. He instantly beamed a thousand watt smile.

"Wow! What are the odds huh? Wait…so were they the ones that was causin' all that commotion today?"

I nodded while tapping him once on the arm again.

"And they were stealin' food right? Right." See-More chuckled, "Man, it's only been a few months and they're already back at it again, you think they'd be worried about getting' caught or something, right?"

I shrugged, understanding the question to be rhetorical. Something about the incident kind of bugged me. We've stolen food before when we were a team, but it was mostly for fun. The money we made off of the more high valued things we stole was more than enough to cover for food we could just pay for. But Gizmo and the other guys stole a lot of food, a whole lot. And when I thought back to it they didn't look or sound like I remembered them when we used to rob places together. They sounded scared…and desperate.

I looked back at See-More to see him still grinning to himself, probably thinking about the guys and our history together. Even if I could tell him what I was thinking I knew I didn't have the heart to. It was best to leave him to his thoughts of the past. In the future I would need to take more care to avoid anymore run-ins like that should we find ourselves out in the city again.

"Hey Kyd, do you think we can talk to Fixit for a bit while Jinx is makin' dinner?" See-More asked me out of the blue.

I broke from my daydreaming to look back at him. He was looking back at me, expectant smile on his face. Without giving him a poke as an answer I simply rose from the table, the sound of the chair scraping across the wood floor causing See-More to perk up.

"Awesome!" He grinned, slowly rising from the table as well.

I placed a steadying hand at his back as he rose. See-More was not incapable of moving around on his own, but he was still weak from having to stay in a bed for over a month. He also still had frequent dizzy spells that were serious enough to prevent him from standing. Over the last few weeks they have been less frequent but one could never be too careful.

"I'm good, man, I'm good," He said to me with a reassuring smile as he stood up straight, my hand still at his back, "Lead on!"

I nodded before carefully leading him out of the room. The room with the computer was just in one of the adjourning rooms to the dining room but it still took us a little over a minute to get there.

Jinx had been talking about getting See-More a walking stick so that he could start learning how to walk on his own, but that would have to be after he could walk around without having somebody to watch over him. I didn't like the sound of a walking stick. It sounded too…permanent.

While she and I could never really talk about it I knew we were both thinking of ways to try and fix his vision. See-More told us that he was blind before the eye device he built allowed him to see. Jinx had once asked how he had built it if he was blind but he refused to answer her, which was strange considering he was usually so open about everything. But still, that information alone proved that even…even if he no longer had eyes anymore…if he could rebuild his mechanical eye…he could see again.

"I got it from here." See-More spoke to me, once again interrupting my train of thought.

Looking around I see we had already reached our destination. It was a small room, well, small compared to the majority of the other rooms in this mansion. It was sparsely decorated, a few expensive looking paintings, a couple uncomfortably fancy looking chairs and a desk. A large window that made up almost an entire wall looked out into the front yard of the mansion. The long, over a mile long, road that lead through the woods and out towards the city stretched out before the window. The path that was closest to the front gates was wide enough to fit at least five or six city buses but I knew from experience that it narrowed down to barely fit a single car once it led out of the woods.

I released my hand from See-More's back as he sat at a simple chair that was situated before an even simpler table. The table itself sat right beside the window, which would normally allow the person sitting there to have a pretty nice view if it wasn't for the rather large laptop that was resting directly in the center of the table.

The laptop was already open and revealing a blank white screen with a blinking, black, vertical line waiting to have texts appear from it. I thought it was strange that it was already open like this, had Jinx been talking with Fixit earlier? While I couldn't say whether or not the two got along I wouldn't imagine her being all that interested in talking with him, especially alone.

"Hey man, are you gonna pull up a chair to? Don't forget I need you to help type for me…" See-More spoke up, looking somewhat over at me with a sheepish smile.

I went to shake my head in response to sitting but quickly caught myself before tapping him twice on the shoulder. The smile on his face immediately switched to a confused smile.

"Huh? What is it Ky-Oh yeah! Ummm, was that a no to the chair part or the helping me part?"

I could only stand there while I waited for him realize something, thankfully it didn't take long.

"Oh! Um, do you want to sit down to?"

One tap on the shoulder.

"Are you going to help me type?"

Two taps.

"Woo! Awesome!" See-More exclaimed, letting out a relieved sigh before turning his attention back to the screen. "Alright, alright, say…'Hey man, what's up!'"

Leaning over See-More I type out the words for him. It was a little awkward having to do so with only one hand but before long I had finished and pressed enter. Almost immediately a new sentence appeared under mine that read:

**Hello. Who is this?**

Just as the words appeared Fixit's monotone voice spoke through the speakers, reading them aloud to us. I was quick to notice the smile that appeared on See-More's face as soon as he heard it.

"Pfft, he knows who it is. Say: 'It's See-More man! Who else!'"

I lean over again and type out the words and press the enter key.

**It is good to hear from you again See-More. How are you?**

"Whoa! He's never asked me how I was before, that's awesome! Okay Kyd, say: 'I'm great! How 'bout you?'"

This went on for the next half hour or so. See-More and Fixit mainly talked about small every day things, most of that consisting of what See-More did that day. I couldn't imagine Fixit enjoying these types of conversations all that much but there was no way I could tell how he actually felt.

At one point See-More asked me if there was anything I wanted to say to him. I could only shrug my shoulders before tapping him twice on the shoulder. There was actually a lot I wanted to say. I wanted to thank him for protecting See-More, I wanted to ask him if he could tell us anything about how See-More's old eye device worked, I wanted to know how See-More managed to teach him how to be human. But those were all questions for the Fixit that wasn't around any longer. The Fixit that was left behind wasn't the one that I learned to admire and respect.

Soon enough we could both hear the faint sounds of Jinx calling us to dinner. After See-More had me exchange good-byes with him and Fixit I closed the laptop and helped him off his seat.

"So I couldn't help but notice that the computer was open when we got there." See-More spoke to me in that hushed, secretive tone as we made our way out of the room, "Do ya think Jinx was using it earlier?"

I thought about how to answer the question before tapping him three times on the back with the hand that was helping keep him steady. See-More appeared to be in deep concentration for a moment before remembering what three taps meant.

"Don't know huh? But who else could it be…unless your havin' 'private alone time secret talk sessions' with him behind my back?"

I was quick to give him two definite taps on the back as See-More glanced in my direction with a teasing grin. He quickly went back into deep thought mode however.

"So then if it wasn't you…maybe Red-X? But that dude hasn't been around for months…and if he just snuck in or somethin' why would he just talk to Fixit? That doesn't really make sense…you know?"

I agreed with a single tap against his back.

"Then…it has to be Jinx man!"

"What has to be Jinx?" Jinx questioned as we entered the dining room.

Both See-More and I froze on the spot. See-More's mouth clamped shut while my eyes looked everywhere but at Jinx. Of course See-More couldn't see that we had entered the room right when he said that and I had been so engrossed in his thought process that I had unfortunately tuned out our surroundings.

"Well?" Jinx pressed. I watched out of the corner of my eyes as she placed the last of the plates down on the table before crossing her arms, giving us a fierce glare.

"Er…we were just sayin'…that it had to be you…who was the prettiest girl back at the HIVE academy!"

He said the last part so fast I had to give it a second to let it register in my head, before giving my hopeless friend a dumbfounded look.

Really? _That's _your cover?

I, very slowly, looked back to Jinx who had all but lost her angry glare, she now look just as confused and surprised as I felt. Strangely though, that confusion melted away to a smile that I knew was only there because See-More couldn't see it. Then, just as quickly, it was gone as Jinx let out a very amused chuckle.

"Like either of you two would know," Jinx spoke as she spooned beans from a can onto our plates, "You both spent more time staring at textbooks then at girls."

"Hey cut me some slack the teachers had me pegged as some class clown like the first day! If I didn't look like I was always studying the teachers always had me doing drills!" See-More retorted as I led him to our seats.

I let out a silent sigh of relief, grateful that the suspicion and awkward air had both been dropped.

"Right. Did you even have a girlfriend back at the academy?" Jinx questioned See-More as we both sat down.

"O-Of course I had a girlfriend! I had lots of girlfriends! Hundreds of girlfriends!" He quickly replied, already locating a fork and digging into the beans. "Mmm, good beans Jinx, great beans!"

"Thanks. It's an old family recipe." She said sarcastically with a grin before sitting down herself. She then turned to me. "So what about you Kyd? Any past lovers from school?"

I swallowed a spoonful of beans before shaking my head. I wasn't about to get in any details with that Angel girl, even if I could.

"What are you talkin' about man? No girlfriends, really? But the ladies were all over you! Especially that one chick…whats the one…blonde hair…bird wings…"

"Angel?" Jinx spoke out loud, looking incredulously from See-More to me, "Angel had a thing for Kyd?"

"Angel that's it! Yeah she had the hots big time for him! And if I remember I'm pretty sure Kyd had it pretty bad for her to…"

"You don't say…"

See-More and Jinx then both looked over at me with very suggestive smiles. I pretended not to notice them as I continued eating. Though I did wish this stupid button up shirt I was wearing had a collar big enough to hide my face.

Their conversation continued in much the same way. While the first few weeks of us living together were…awkward to say the least it didn't seem to take long for us to warm up to each other again. Hell, I might even go as far as to say that we're closer now then we were when we were all still a team of criminals. At the very least we certainly never talked like this together before now

And despite the embarrassing stories of the past I had to admit it was kind of…nice. It was nice being like this. Having a warm place to stay, warm food to eat. But there was always that nagging thought in the back of my mind.

That little voice saying that this couldn't last forever.

Things this nice could never last forever.

I have been trying to ignore that voice for the last month. But each new day that ticks by feels like a day closer to the inevitable. I'm not sure what exactly the inevitable entails but I did know one thing:

The twitching of the thing wrapped in bandages was growing worse by the day.

**XXXXXX**

**To Be Continued…**

**XXXXXX**

** Like? Don't like? Do not be shy to leave your opinion in the reviews or even a personal message should you so choose. Nothing much happened but this is the prologue after all! I promise you there shall be many twists, turns, and action in between in the next few chapters. Until then I hope you all continue to enjoy reading!**


	2. Two Secrets

**The Cursed One**

**Chapter Two: **

**Two Secrets**

**XXXXXXX**

Jinx sighed as she settled in closer against his body. She felt his chest rise and fall rapidly as he chuckled before wrapping an arm around her.

"Someone's affectionate tonight." He whispered at her ear before placing a soft kiss against her cheek.

A chill rose through her but she chose not to answer. Instead she turned until she was facing him, looking deep into his eyes before kissing him once on the lips. She grinned mischievously as his eyes opened wide in surprise.

"What can I say? You haven't come to see me in like a week." She finally said, kissing him again, "I missed you."

His surprise vanished as she continued to kiss him. Eventually he pulled away, looking at Jinx apologetically.

"I'm sorry about that. It's just that-."

"No more talking, Wally." She silenced him with a finger against his lips.

Kid Flash obeyed and with another smile Jinx removed her finger before locking him in a very passionate kiss. She ran her fingers through his bright red hair as their tongues battled with one another. She could feel his hands run down the length of her back, sending more of those chills coursing through her.

This had been going on for over a month. Kid Flash coming to see her in her room. At first it was just a red rose waiting for her on her bed. She was afraid that he would rat her out to the Titans, especially after what she had done to him. But after a week straight of solid roses she could only assume that wasn't the case.

Then he started appearing on her bed instead of the rose. Dressed in casual clothes like they used to wear when they were dating. They never talked much, and when they did it was never about the Titans or what she had done.

Of course she had tried asking him. On the first day she saw him laying casually in her bed she berated him with questions. But he never answered her, he only got up from the bed, walked over to her, and kissed her.

And that was that. Jinx wanted to say that she was ashamed of what she was doing. How wrong it was. How unfair it was to both of them. But she couldn't deny how good it felt. After all the stress of the day, after all the turmoil constantly swimming in her mind. It felt good to just give in to a base desire with no thoughts or stresses involved.

There was just her and him on this big bed in this big room. There was no one else in the world. No impending war. No horribly injured old teammates. And no-.

A loud banging rang through the room then. Jinx and Kid Flash leapt away from one another immediately, their passions gone as if they had never been there.

"Jinx…" Kid Flash began, getting up from her bed, already buttoning up his shirt.

"It's okay…I think it was from the front door…" Jinx spoke, straightening the purple nightgown that had been hiked up her legs.

"You should go check it out." Kid Flash said as he turned to face her, "It's gotta be important since it's so late."

"It's fine, See-More or Kyd can-." She quickly stopped herself. Obviously See-More wouldn't be answering any doors in his condition and even if Kyd did answer the door it's not like he could hold any conversation with whoever was there.

Jinx sighed. She really needed to reconsider her whole mansionmate situation.

"It's alright." Kid Flash said with a grin and a thumbs-up, "If anything's wrong I'll be there in a flash!"

Jinx couldn't help but smile and thanked him before leaving her room. Her room was situated right down the hall from the front doors, so even though the hallway itself was massive it wouldn't take that long to get there. She also hadn't heard any more knocking after the first few that had startled her and Wally, maybe whoever it was had already left.

Jinx realized how far from the truth that was as she stepped into the wide, white room that held the front doors. A figure stood in the doorway. He was leaning against the door that had been pushed open slightly, holding an arm and breathing heavily. A crash of thunder brought her attention to the small window of the outside world behind the figure. It was storming heavily; she was surprised that she hadn't noticed it sooner.

The one leaning against the door was soaked, as if he had just walked through the storm. She took a few steps closer and saw that his dark clothing was ripped in multiple places. As her eyes trailed down his body she saw that he was dripping water on the white, marble floors. A puddle had formed at his feet, at first Jinx thought it was a puddle of water but as she got closer she noticed something odd. The puddle of water was stained a strange shade of red.

"Hey Pinky…" the figure breathed.

Jinx stopped her approach then. That voice was so very familiar, as was the name he called her. He then looked up at her and Jinx found herself staring at a skull mask. A skull mask with horrible looking gashes disfiguring it. Before she could react any further he collapsed to the ground.

"Red-X!" Jinx cried before rushing over to him.

There were several, deep looking gashes that had torn through his cape and clothing at his back. Jinx took care not to have them roughly land against her legs as she kneeled down beside him. She moved his body slowly so that she could see his face, though even with the claw marks that had cut into it she still couldn't make out enough to tell if he was even still conscious or not.

Without even thinking about it she reached out with one hand to remove his mask. Almost instantly a gloved hand jerked upwards and gripped her wrist.

"The mask stays on." Red-X spoke, heaving in great breaths as his face turned to look at her.

"But…" Jinx breathed.

"He didn't get my face; it's the rest of me that I'm worried about." He sputtered out in a single breath. He then let out a muffled cry of pain, causing Jinx to let out a surprised cry as well. "Sorry…I think the Zinothium in my blood is starting to wear off…it really hurts…"

"What do I need to do?" Jinx asked, trying her best to control her tone. The last thing he needed right now was to see that she was scared.

"Go wake up Kyd…I don't think you can carry me by yourself…there's a room, connected to the kitchen, it's a…medical room of sorts, remember it?"

"Yeah, that's where See-More was for awhile." Jinx said, nodding quickly.

"Just get Kyd and…take me there, I'll tell you what to do from there."

"Okay…" Jinx said. Taking in a calming breath she carefully let Red-X go before walking over to the still open door. She closed it, silencing the still ongoing storm outside.

Red-X let go of her wrist so he could prop himself up when Jinx released him. He didn't really want to let his back touch the ground. Jinx walked back over to him, her once pretty looking nightgown was stained with water and blood, but she ignored it. She knew she had to be quick but she couldn't help but hesitate as she looked down at the boy lying on the ground.

"Are you sure you'll be alright until I come back?" She asked. Red-X chuckled.

"Course. Just hurry Pinky, I'm kinda concerned about this arm over here." He commented, shifting his right shoulder.

Jinx looked to see his right arm lying uselessly on the ground, its own puddle of water and blood had already formed around it. She bit her lower lip; she was fighting a useless battle with her fear. So instead of fighting, or letting him see, she turned and began running back the way she came.

Kyd's room was on the second floor but she had to check on something before she went up those stairs and prepared for reality. She stopped at her room and stepped inside. Kid Flash was nowhere to be found and she knew it would be useless to try and look for him. He had gone for the night.

Suddenly finding herself fighting back tears Jinx quickly stepped back out the room and began running for the stairs.

**XXXXXX**

Robin placed carefully timed punches and kicks against the punching back. Each blow had the same amount of intense force, despite him having gone at it for almost an hour straight. Almost everyone at the gym found themselves watching him, which was easy to do given the mask he wore which caused him to stand out. The boy wonder appeared so engrossed in what he was doing no one would suspect that his mind was actually far from where he was or what he was doing.

Robin's body moved strictly from muscle memory as he kicked and punched the poor, defenseless bag. He was angry. He had gone to the gym today to try and distract his mind but it had become such a routine in the last month that he found his mind drifting off more than ever.

Sweat coated his body like a second skin, but his breathing only very recently became more haggled. He tried to focus more on that breathing, or on the rapid beating of his heart. But none of the rhythm held his attention long. Already his mind was beginning to wander again.

He had seen the tower on his way to the gym that morning. It had caught the rising sun perfectly. While still far from finished it was very far along. Robin knew that was only because Cyborg now spent nearly all his time there now. They hadn't talked much recently but the last time they had spoken his friend had told him he had enough essentials built at the tower so he could stay there during the construction. He hadn't offered Robin a place to stay and Robin never brought it up.

That was almost a month ago. That was the last time he had spoken to any of his friends. So much had happened.

The villains had returned. That was one thing. One big thing.

Paris was still recovering after some of the escaped villains decided to make the city their new terrorizing grounds. It was only natural, considering that was where they had left them frozen, right inside the secret Brotherhood of Evil stronghold. In hindsight they should have warned the French government about the base. But at the time it seemed so…final. That was the best word Robin could find for what happened.

The majority of Jump's villains were permanently out of the way, peace finally seemed more possible than it had ever been before. But now…

Another world war almost seemed plausible when France learned that the captured villains were, for the most part, American. They were outraged that such a secret was kept from them and then left alone in their country. It was only due to heavy negotiations from the American Government and the Justice League that matters didn't get worse. Heroes from the League were sent to clear out the mess that the Titans had inadvertently caused, and while things eventually began to settle down in Paris other major cities began having new problems of their own when strange, costumed vigilantes began moving in.

And that was only the beginning of the problems. Batman wasn't exactly thrilled that his old partner had basically stolen his ship. Even less so when he learned that the same old partner very well may have caused a war between Earth and Tamaran.

Robin still couldn't get the image of Batman out of his head as he and his friends stood before the core Justice League. Many of them looked at them with disappointment and anger as Superman lectured them. But Batman did not even look at him. He a stood a ways off, back to all of them, close enough to hear Superman's words but not close enough so that Robin could see how he looked. And that stung Robin worse than Superman's words ever could.

They had been forced to tell the Justice League everything that had occurred, from the Brotherhood of Evil onward. Blackfire and her group breaking in, a dragon destroying the tower, Raven being captured, Beastboy going after her, St- _she_ going after them, Robin going after her. And…

Raven killing Galfore, the king of Tamaran. That was a big one. Almost immediately there were suggestions that she be locked away, Robin was quick to try and defend her but Beastboy was quicker. He had explained to them that Blackfire had tricked Galfore into thinking the Titans had killed his daughter, he told them of the pained father's rage. There was no plausible way to stop him or calm him down. Beastboy told them of how he could even break through Raven's magic's and that in the end, she had no choice.

Raven herself remained quiet the entire time. She wouldn't look at Beastboy or at any of them as the story of her deed was being told. Though even after the story there were still discussions of Raven serving at least some form of punishment, as it was clear that her actions played a big role in Tamaran's desire for war. But it was Batman that spoke up in her defense then, reminding the other members of the Justice League that almost everyone of them had done something they regretted because it was the only thing they could do.

His simple words, more than Beastboy's story, had calmed them down enough that a severe punishment wouldn't fall on Raven's head. Robin remembered Raven's expression then. It wasn't joyful, or relieved, it was sad. Completely and utterly miserable.

Their decision wasn't saying that the Titans would go off scot free however. Robin, Raven, and Beastboy were all suspended from being heroes until further notice. On top of that all members of the Titans, Honorary or otherwise, had now become under the jurisdiction of the Justice League. Everyone Robin and his team had recruited had to contact a member of the Justice League so they could collect any relevant information: location, birth date, gender. And that only led to more problems.

Those Honorary members who had somewhat unwillingly joined the Titans then wanted out completely, but the League did not desire freelancing superheroes, as they could be just as dangerous as any villain. Those Titans who tried to leave were warned that they would be treated as a villain if they do so. While none seemed keen of making enemies with the Justice League Robin hadn't heard from many of the Honorary Titans after that ordeal. And then there was the problem with the Titans that never answered the summons.

The Herald had been missing in action since before the tower had been attacked, but with no plausible way to enter his dimension there was nothing they could really do. Kid Flash had disappeared after Jinx had attacked him at Titan's East tower (that in itself was another mystery Robin was struggling to solve), and even the original Flash of the Justice League hadn't heard from his old sidekick. And now even Jericho has stopped answering any calls.

All in all everything had just completely fallen apart. After their dealings with the Justice League the Titans seemed to simply fall apart piece by piece. All the young heroes he was just beginning to get to know simply returned to their own thing. And while that in itself was painful to see it couldn't compare to…

Beastboy leaving the city, saying he was going to go track down some of the Titans that weren't calling in, as well as warn his old team that the Brain and his lackeys might be back in action. But Robin knew that was only part of the reason he left. After what happened on Tamaran Beastboy never once cracked a joke, never once did he laugh. He looked like an empty shell of what he once was, empty except for hatred. Hatred at Robin for forcing him to become the Beast. Hatred at him for not being able to save-.

Raven simply said she was leaving for awhile, and that she'd be in touch. It's been a few months since she said that, and she hadn't even called to check in. Robin didn't have a choice but to understand. Raven had killed someone. She had come close so many times but this was her first time. Every other time one of them had been there to help her. Every other time she had a friend she could depend on. But this time. This time she couldn't even depend on him to save-.

Cyborg had buried himself in his work on the tower. Robin knew without having much contact with him that it was all the cybernetic teen was doing these days. Even though he still had the rights as a hero Robin never once saw him out fighting the occasional times Jump City was in danger. Robin would spy occasionally whenever the city was at risk, he could never actually participate in case the League had some sort of monitor on him, but he could watch. He would watch just in case he could catch a glimpse of them, of any of them.

But it was always Titan's East that answered the call these days. Another group of people that wouldn't talk to him any longer.

Robin found himself suddenly back in the real world, hitting the swaying bag in front of him ever harder. He didn't know how long he had been at this but his breathing was becoming more and more ragged, his hair clung to his face with sweat.

How did things get so bad?

He planted his feet firmly against the matted floor so he could just lay in merciless punches against the punching bag. He found himself crying out angrily without meaning to.

How did it end up this way?

The thing he was hitting was shaking uncontrollably, but Robin never let up. A lot more people were now watching him as his cries of rage began to fill the gym.

He remembered. He remembered who had broken into the tower. The ones who stole Raven and destroyed the tower. The ones Beastboy chased after. The ones that forced her to return to her planet.

Blackfire. Fixit. Red-X. See-More. And Kyd Wykkyd.

Their names were imprinted in Robin's head. He pored over their files every night. He studied them until he memorized every detail that he could. Blackfire might have been dead but he learned of her all the same. And he hunted them. Even though he was banned from being a hero, even though he didn't know if they were still in the city. He had a feeling they were still nearby, he couldn't explain the feeling, only acknowledge it was there.

And he didn't hunt them as a hero looking for justice.

He hunted them as a man scorned. A man who wanted revenge.

Revenge for taking away his life. Taking away his friends. Taking away…

Taking away…

_Starfire…_

With a final cry of anger Robin threw his fist into the punching bag with whatever force remained in his body. It was more than the bag could take. A hole tore open from the impact, and as Robin pulled his fist away sand began to pour endlessly from the open wound.

And the boy wonder just stood there, breathing heavily, and watched as the sand poured. His mind had finally emptied at that moment. He could finally focus on the here and now.

He could finally begin.

**XXXXXX**

The room was silent and calm. Not a noise could be heard. Not a noise save for the gentle breathings of the girl that meditated in the air at its center. Not a noise besides the three simple words she chanted.

"Azeroth. Metrion. Zinthos."

She spoke the words so softly that they seemed to blend into the air around her. Her presence was so calm that she could have blended straight into the room if it weren't for the colors of her clothing contrasting very heavily with the white walls that surrounded her.

Eyes and mind closed, she had reached such a state that even the hesitant creaking of a door opening didn't stir her much. She simply stopped her mantra mid-sentence before opening a single eye. There was a boy that stood in the doorway. His bright red eyes squinted against the brightness of the room as he closed the door behind him. Despite the peace in her mind Raven found herself fighting down a smile as she watched him.

"Thank you for seeing me so late, Kyd Wykkyd." She greeted in that same, monotone voice.

**XXXXXX**

**To Be Continued…**

**XXXXXX**

**I know you may hate me, don't worry, you'll love me soon enough. As you may already infer this story shall be pulling in many more walks of life. Including those from the Justice League. I shall do my best when it comes to keeping with cannon when it comes to backgrounds of certain heroes. But as I am not very much of a comic buff I shall just try to use my creative talents to try and avoid having to do so. But I promise I shall do the necessary research if it comes down to it, namely the Green Lanterns as I believe a war between Tamaran and Earth would concern them in a very big way.**

**Regardless I hope you shall continue to read and enjoy. Until next chapter. Peace. **


	3. Three Feelings

**The Cursed One**

**Chapter 3:**

**Three Feelings**

**XXXXXX**

I shielded my eyes against the intense brightness of the room. It was so different compared to the gloomy darkness of the warehouse and its hallways. And it was very different from the place where I thought I would find _her_.

"Thank you for seeing me so late, Kyd Wykkyd." She greeted as I closed to door behind me.

I turned to face her, eyes still adjusting to the extreme whiteness of it all. She floated in the center of the room, her dark clothes making her very easy to find, and even easier to focus on. Her cloak fell over her body like a drape. She kept her hood up, hiding a good portion of her face from view, though I could still make out a single, bright purple eye watching me as I stood there.

I nodded to her in greeting, unsure as to what else to do. I couldn't say anything to her, and I didn't think it safe to try and approach her. Raven herself didn't help alleviate the tension in the air, simply remaining where she was, staring at me.

We remained where we were for several seconds before the heavy air of it all become to much for me. I took a step forward.

"Please don't move." Raven commanded gently.

I froze immediately. Despite her calm tone there was a certain edge to it that I knew I shouldn't ignore.

"I'm going to approach you. I'll ask that you don't try anything." She continued, still eyeing me.

I tensed up reflexively. It had been awhile but my…struggles with Raven and her emotions still ate away at the edges of my mind. There were still many nights I woke up from terrible nightmares of Rage beating me to death.

"I promise I will not harm you." She added, probably noticing my apprehension. "We are not in this room as a Titan and HIVE member…and I have been meditating for most of today to prepare myself for this. I am in control and you are safe here."

I kept my eyes on her as I nodded slowly. She didn't appear all that threatening, just a little on edge, like I was. It was only natural given the scenario, which made me think again as to why she wanted me to come here.

The cawing of a crow at my window had woken me in the middle of the night. When I had approached it it began telling me the location of this warehouse, and that Raven wanted to meet me there…and that she wanted to help me.

But help with what?

Obviously I was wary about going at all. I had assumed after our parting on Tamaran I would never see her or the other Titans again…at least that was what I had hoped. But here she was, Raven of the Teen Titans, wanting to meet me, a criminal, alone in an abandoned building…in the middle of the night…in the back alleys of Jump City's downtown area…

"Please calm down." Raven said as she slowly lowered herself to the ground before standing back up. "This will not be any easier for me if you keep panicking."

I shot her a glare. Can she really expect me to be calm in a situation like this? She could kill me if I wasn't careful, easily kill me.

I felt the thing move restlessly in the bandages. It seemed to be enjoying the idea of a life or death battle with this half-demon, can't say I shared the same feelings. Raven took a step forward then and before I knew it I had already jumped backwards. I let out a silent gasp as my back hit the door. Raven sighed.

"If it will make it easier for you, you can approach me instead." She said before holding her hands above her head, revealing a small body clad in nothing but a skin tight black leotard as her cloak fell down behind her. "You have my word that I won't move."

I kept my eyes on her face, for more than one reason, as she said this. Her expression or tone never changed as she spoke, besides appearing slightly annoyed about having to do this. I ignored that, I was definitely more comfortable with this arrangement. But that didn't mean that I was going to be any less cautious.

I gripped my one good hand on my cape, watching the Titan for any reaction. There was none. She only watched me with a disinterested gaze, maybe even bored. I kept my eyes on her regardless as I approached with slow and careful steps. Every rational part of my body was screaming at me to stop, to pull the cape over my body and escape this very obvious trap.

But the curiosity in me was stronger. If she wanted to attack me she could have done it the moment I entered this room. She knew somehow where I was living; she could have done it while I was sleeping in my room. But no, instead she sent me a message. Instead she said she wanted to help.

But help with what?

The claw in the bandages started twitching again as I got closer and closer to the demon girl. It was eating up my fear and anxiety. I tried to mentally calm myself as I took step after step. The last thing I needed was to feed its bloodlust with my emotions.

I stopped when I was just about five feet away from her but the Titan shook her head.

"Closer."

I really didn't want to get closer, but I trudged forward anyways, letting my curiosity take over. I was already tense enough that I could probably escape from this place in less than a second if I wanted to.

I stopped again, now face to face with the Titan, her arms lowered back down and the cloak once again consumed her body. She was pretty short; I was almost a head taller than her. She looked up at me through the darkness in her hood, large purple eyes staring into me. I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable at the intensity of that gaze.

"You don't seem to have changed much since the last time." Raven noted, "At least nothing that I can see."

Her eyes then trailed down the rest of my body. I froze up. I was sufficiently covered by a dark, long-sleeved shirt and jeans but I still felt that her eyes were…penetrating me…

"I am just going to assume you haven't taken on any new demon parts, right?" She asked, looking back up at me.

I nodded. That time I had teleported See-More and me away from Gizmo and the others had been the first time I had used my cape in over a month. I had checked my body that night to see if anything had changed but there was nothing. For whatever reason I guessed my actions were considered 'bad' when I teleported.

On that note nothing seemed to have changed when I teleported to this location.

Another twitch in the bandages and I quickly stopped that train of thought. Though Raven seemed to have noticed something.

"Your new hand must be giving you a lot of problems." She noted, looking down at my bandaged arm that hung on a sling right below my chest.

I could feel the hand in question squirm.

"Has it spread any farther in the past two months?" She asked, looking up to catch the shake of my head before looking back at the cast, "Good."

A small, gray hand then reached out towards me from the depths of her cape. It was an intentionally slow motion but I still flinched regardless. The hand stopped.

"I'm sorry but I am going to have to take a look at it." Raven explained, her big eyes looking back up to me, "…is that alright?"

I was a little taken back. That dead tone she had been using dropped slightly when she asked, her words were softer, more hesitant. For a brief moment I lowered my guard, but it was enough to nod my head.

"Good." She said again, that soft, careful tone all but gone as black energy suddenly coated her extended hand, the same energy covering my bandaged hand.

My breathing caught in my throat. I wanted to jump away, or better yet use my cape, but I was already stuck, trapped. The Titan had caught me. Unless I attacked her now there would be no way…

My thought process derailed itself as the wrappings around my arm slowly and carefully un-wrapped themselves. I found myself watching the process in silent wonder as more and more of the demon hand began to reveal itself. I then took notice of how much it was moving. It was practically writhing while under the influence of Raven's magic's. It clearly wasn't a fan.

I felt discomfort of my own as the bandages finally disappeared. The thing was fully exposed now, hanging in the air between the Titan and I. It jerked and twitched on its own, like some dark spider. I didn't want to look at it so instead I looked over to Raven, only to see that she was staring at the claw, almost transfixed.

"Beautiful…" She said under her breath. It was so quiet I wouldn't have heard it, even at this close distance, without my abnormal ears…ear.

A sudden flash back of Happiness staring at it much the same way whizzed through my mind. I wanted to pull it away from her probing gaze but I knew there was no easy way to do that while her dark energy kept it trapped.

Before I could think of some way to free myself the Titan suddenly reached out with her hand and touched the claw.

I held my breath, my body tensed, even the claw tensed. Her fingers gently traced across the now open palm of the claw as the fingers arched back. I couldn't hold back my surprise. The claw…it was…relaxing. Her hand then gently wrapped itself around the claw. I could feel the warmth from her skin, the softness of it, but instead of the bloodlust I was expecting from the claw I could only feel…comfort.

The surprises didn't cease there. The claw still moved on its own as the fingers then wrapped themselves around Raven's small hand. I could only stare. We were…holding hands.

I looked at the Titan's face to see that her eyes were now closed. I couldn't tell why they were, due to the darkness from her hood, but judging by the relaxed grip of her hand I could only assume that she was enjoying the same sensations that I was.

Another moment of surprise. This was getting too weird. The claw was still ensnared in the darkness as the Titan's small hand still gripped it, so there was still no way to free myself. And, despite the strangely nice feeling I was getting from this contact the more rational part of my head was still managing to tell me how wrong this was.

She was still a Titan. She was still a demon. Any second now she could rip off the arm that she was holding the hand off. At any moment I could be the play thing of that red cloaked monster.

"You are still afraid of me." Raven said out loud, before letting go of the claw.

The energy disappeared at the same moment from around my arm and I quickly jumped back away from the Titan. I waited until I was several meters away before holding my ground again, making sure to tuck the claw (which was now clenched into a forced fist) against my side.

I kept my eyes on the Titan. She remained where she stood, regarding me with that same bored look.

"Sorry." She said into the empty air between us. "I am still not very good at human interaction. I was only trying to calm you down, but apparently that didn't work out so well."

Silence again. We stared at one another for a few more seconds before the Titan let out a slightly irritated sigh.

"I didn't want to have to do this but I have to make you comfortable and calm if we are to proceed any further." She said this as she hovered back into the air before crossing her legs and forming that meditative state I had seen when I walked in. "Just try and clear your mind as best you can, I am going to open a link between us. It should be simple considering you have been inside my head before."

I chose that moment to look away from her then. I purposely chose not to think about that incident too much. Because if I thought about being inside that Titan's head I couldn't help but think about how I got there in the first place. And that…was not something I wanted to be thinking about, especially right now.

"Try and keep calm, as best you can." She repeated before closing her eyes and starting that weird trance of hers.

I stood there somewhat awkwardly, not entirely sure what to do now. Leaving was a possible option. It was my best chance; while the Titan was creating her 'link' or whatever it was she was trying to do.

I kept my eyes on the Titan as I began to pull up the cape still clenched in my hand. The claw was starting to jerk around violently behind my back but I chose to ignore it. There was no time to waste trying to regain control over it; if I was to escape it had to be-.

_Kyd Wykkyd, can you hear me?_

Her question suddenly filled my head, replacing the previous train of thought that I had going. I kept my focus on the Titan herself the entire time but her face didn't change when I heard that question. Not that I thought it would have.

I thought about not answering her and just leaving, but that thought was interrupted again by the sound of her voice in my head.

_Kyd Wykkyd?_

_I can hear you._

I thought this without thinking. If there was some way I could retract my thoughts I would have. In fact…should I even be thinking about this right now? Can she hear these thoughts without me actively trying to form a sentence in my head? Maybe I should just clear my mind…somehow.

_Don't worry, I can't read your mind. Not completely._

If that wasn't ironic I didn't know what was.

_Uh huh._ I replied, doing my best to think of those words as sarcastically as possible.

_I'm being honest with you. _I heard her voice again, this time with a slight bit of agitation mixed in. _It was easy to form a link due to our past…experiences…_

She said that word with a slight, bitter, icy tone, much different from the way she usually said things. I couldn't help but feel a shiver down my spine, though at the same time actively not trying to think about that particular experience she was referring to.

_But the link isn't complete. I won't be able to fully read your mind or view any of your past experiences. This was intentional._

The way she said that last part led me to believe she wanted some form of gratitude from me. I glared at her floating, motionless form instead, unsure if she could even see with her eyes closed. The Titan remained quiet, so I assumed she at least expected some sort of response from me.

_Fine._

I tried to think this without any notable emotion but unsure if I could hide the aggravation that was eating at the back of my head. I didn't like this Titan being inside my head, completely or otherwise.

_I am sorry you are aggravated. _Her voice suddenly said inside my head. _I thought that perhaps allowing you to speak back to me would make you more comfortable._

I eyed her floating form warily, cape still clenched in my hand.

_I thought you said you couldn't read my mind?_

_I can't._

I waited for her to elaborate on this but no new voice in my head appeared.

_So then how-?_

_I can read emotions._

_Oh…_

The Titan had fallen silent again. Apparently she wasn't very keen on topics that involved herself. Not that I was interested in such things in the first place. In fact now that I could actually say something I should properly be asking more important questions. I can imagine that's what she was waiting for me to do anyways.

_Why did you ask me to meet you here?_

_That isn't obvious to you already?_

Okay maybe she wasn't waiting for me to ask her that. Well if she is going to be this brutally honest with me I might as well return the favor.

_Not really. I still think you just invited me here just so that you can kill me._

That seemed to make the Titan pause, but it was only for a moment.

_If that's true then why did you come?_

This made me pause, for longer than a moment.

_I'm still trying to figure that one out._

_Well if it will set your mind more at ease I give you my word that I did not ask you here so that I can kill you._

I studied her blank, stoic face. It could easily have been mistaken that she was sleeping, disregarding the fact that she was still floating several feet off the ground.

_Okay…so then why __**did **__you ask me to come here?_

_Short answer, I want to help you control the demon part of you._

Well…that was a surprise. At the mention of my demon part my attention momentarily returned to the claw, it hadn't moved ever since the Titan's voice first started speaking in my head. Still I couldn't help but get suspicious again as my focus went back to the floating girl.

_You're a Titan. Why would a Titan want to help me?_

_I told you not to think of us as Titan or HIVE. In this room there are no titles or alliances. _

_Okay that might be fine for you but outside this room the Titans and my old Academy don't really see eye to eye. And if any of your friends find out that you're here helping someone like me-._

_They won't find out._

_How do you know? Doesn't your communicator have some sort of tracking device? And your leader seems like the type who would keep tabs on you at all times._

_You don't need to worry about Robin. _

She said this with a strange sort of finality in the words. I didn't have long to reflect on this however when Raven's cloak suddenly fell down off her body.

_And as you can see there is nothing on my body. I have no communicator and no other tracing device. _

I listened to her words as I kept my gaze focused on the purple clump of her robe that lay discarded on the ground. There was no way I was looking at her now. I would just have to take her word for it.

_Kyd Wykkyd. Look at me._

_Damnit._

_What?_

_N-nothing!_

I let out an inaudible sigh. If I was quick I could just look directly at her face from the ground. I wouldn't have to see that black leotard or the body it barely concealed. I just had to be quick.

I followed this plan to a dot; I barely even had to see that gray shade of skin before I was staring into her face. But still I felt my heart slow down. I felt that unfamiliar hotness on my face. And I unconsciously found myself back outside the Titan's tower, lying on top of that half-demon monster. Kissing it. Feeling it. Enjoying it.

"I am not a Titan, Kyd Wykkyd." She spoke out loud this time, grounding me back in the real world. But only slightly. I found myself transfixed by those big purple eyes. "And you are not a HIVE member. We are both just lost souls struggling with our darker halves. In this room we are just people who require help."

I found myself nodding at what she was saying while not really thinking about the words she was saying. I stared at that face and felt a single, almost unnoticeable twitch from the claw still behind my back.

But it didn't want to kill her. I didn't feel the urge to tear those eyes out, to rip open that neck, or cut open that chest.

I could only feel the claw's desire to…caress her….and…hold her.

And that, in many ways, was so so so much worse.

**XXXXXX**

**To Be Continued…**

**XXXXXX**


	4. Four Titans

**The Cursed One **

**Chapter 4: Four Titans**

**XXXXXX**

"_**You seem bummed." **_ The dragon noted out of the blue.

Beastboy glanced up to the dread dragon. Noting the weird way his mouth looked. A smile? It was too toothy and scary looking to really set the green Titan at ease. But he still smiled back nonetheless.

"Nah dude, I'm cool." He quickly looked over at the motionless form of Jericho, desperately looking for a change in subject. "Hey, aren't you worried about what Malchior will do once you…er leave his body?"

The creepy, toothy smile got bigger.

"_**No. He won't know I was him. If he remembers anything it will feel like a dream."**_

"You don't think that he being a dragon won't…make anything…different?" Beastboy questioned, struggling to find the right words. He had never really had any one-on-one talks with any of the honorary Titans before, even less so with ones with powers as strange as his.

The dragon appeared to have paused at this, thankfully losing the smile. Its big scaly head turned up to the sky and the Jericho controlled dragon appeared lost in thought.

"_**I've tried this out with a lot of different things. Especially when I was helping you out with beating those Brotherhood of Evil guys. I think as long as they have eyes and a brain then it's all the same thing. This dragon may look threatening and imposing, and he certainly plays the part quite well. But you'd be surprised how human his mind really is."**_

Beastboy perked up a little at this, growing interested.

"You can read his mind?"

"_**Just flashes of his memory, nothing substantial. It's the same with anyone. But the more complicated the person the more distracted I get. And the more distracted I get the harder it is to control them."**_

"You looked like you were doing pretty good with the Brotherhood and all our old bad guys." Beastboy commented, turning his gaze back out to the scenery around them.

The view was amazing. As far as he could see, which was far from their vantage point atop the mountain, there were just rolling green plains upon rolling green plains. The way the wind pushed at the grass made it all look like one big, green, ocean.

"_**Well, no offense to those bad guys, but a lot of them were pretty simple-minded. It might have been safe to say they all were but, if you noticed, I stuck to taking over the minds of those who were more obvious about it."**_

"You mean like Cinderblock?" Beastboy pointed out, thinking back. He glanced back at the dragon to see Malchior's scaly head nodding.

"_**Yeah. And that overweight guy in the trench coat…what was his name…oh yeah, Control Freak."**_

"That guy never seemed too bright…but he was way into alotta nerdy stuff like movies and video games." Beastboy mused, deciding not to mention that he was practically an expert on the exact same things, "None of that ever got in the way?"

"_**Not that I can remember…" **_Jericho replied, the dread dragon appearing deep in thought as it stared out into the green ocean. _**"I think maybe that battle was so intense that my mind and even Control Freaks mind were both focused on the fight. Which now that I think about it might have allowed me to be able to control more complex people easier…"**_

Jericho trailed off after that and didn't seem interested in continuing the topic. That was perfectly fine with Beastboy. Thinking about that time. About how he was forced into leadership. How he almost failed everyone. It still made him feel sick at times.

Suddenly not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts Beastboy quickly broke the silence again.

"You know the Justice League has been rounding up all the Titans, right?" The green teen spoke up.

He wasn't exactly sure why he hadn't brought this up earlier. The whole reason he was here was so he could figure out why Jericho hadn't been checking in. After instead running into the dragon that had destroyed their tower just a few months ago, the same dragon that had hurt Raven just over a year ago, and learning that Jericho was with him, he could only guess that his original purpose had been forgotten momentarily.

"_**I know." **_Jericho responded. The dragon continued to gaze into the sky and the Honorary Titan didn't appear as though he would elaborate any farther.

"And you know that dragon you're paling around with attacked me and my friends and destroyed our home." Beastboy continued, finding it necessary to point this out now. And again unsure why he hadn't done it before.

"_**I know." **_ Jericho said again in that same definitive tone. Beastboy found he was getting slightly annoyed with that tone.

"You think you can tell me why you're avoiding the Justice League and are hanging out with a giant flying death lizard?"

"_**I don't want to be a Titan." **_Jericho replied, still avoiding looking at Beastboy.

"You don't?" The green one asked, genuinely surprised, "But…then why did you help us with the Brotherhood of Evil?"

"_**Weakness." **_He said, the word having more weight when spoken in the dragon's heavy voice. Malchior's red eyes than turned to Beastboy and the Titan froze. The green rings in those red eyes glowed brightly. _**"It has been years since I've been with people my own age…or used my powers. Then you showed up out of nowhere and provided me with both opportunities."**_

"Well what's so bad about hanging out with people and using your powers?"

"_**A lot of things." **_

The dragon then turned its head away from him again, a clear sign that Jericho didn't wish to continue the subject. But Beastboy wasn't so willing to let it drop.

"If it's so bad then why are you using your powers on someone like Malchior? Why did you use them on all those people while we were fighting the Brotherhood?"

"_**Because it's fun." **_Jericho said, his words hissed out of the dragon's mouth. Beastboy couldn't help but notice the smoke that was coming out if its mouth as well. _**"It's fun to be someone else. To have all their strength and power. It's a pleasure that no one but me could ever understand. It's also an addiction. The more I do it the more I want to do it. The more I want to do it the greater the danger."**_

"Danger of what?"

Jericho paused at that. He must have realized he had spoken too much, but Beastboy wasn't planning on letting him drop the subject anymore.

"Danger of what Jericho?"

"_**Danger of not coming back."**_

Beastboy himself paused at that. He felt a strange chill of sorts as he looked from the dragon Malchior to the boy Jericho lying peacefully against a boulder.

"You mean…back to your body?"

The dragon nodded.

"_**I told you before that I can struggle with the thoughts of the people I control. It takes a great deal of focus to return back to my body. If I have no focus I can't return. Something I didn't tell you before: sometimes I can be compelled by their thoughts. Controlled. Sometimes I do things because it is what they want to do. Sometimes, if I'm in a body for too long, I feel like I am losing myself within them."**_

"Do you feel that way now?" Beastboy asked, looking back to the dragon, concerned. Jericho chose not to answer.

"_**It makes me wonder what would happen if I chose never to go back to my body. Would it be a fight for control over the body? What would happen to the loser if that were true? It's obvious what would happen to the winner."**_

An abrupt silence fell between the two then. Beastboy knew what he wanted to ask, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't just a little afraid of the answer. Before he could decide whether to ask or not, however, Jericho spoke up again.

"_**I am sorry if I caused you and the other Titans problems for not responding to the calls." **_Jericho said. The tone of sincerity in Malchior's voice caused Beastboy to look up to the scaly dragon's face. The dragon was looking back down at him. _**"And I am sorry for what Malchior has done to your tower. He has been a prisoner to human injustice for thousands of years and has been a victim to many pains in the past. I know it is not much of an excuse for his actions, I just wish you to know that he is greatly misunderstood. There are much greater evils in the world than a dragon in pain."**_

Beastboy found himself nodding shortly before realizing something.

"Wait…did you get all that from flashes of his memory?"

"_**Not flashes." **_Jericho said. And Beastboy knew he said too much again. Only this time it was intentional.

"Jericho…"

"_**I am apologizing now because I won't be coming back with you." **_ Malchior's big scaly body than rose from the ground. The giant black wings extended out from his body as if he was stretching them. _**"It was a mistake teaming up with you and the other Titans. But I do not regret making that mistake…despite what might happen."**_

Beastboy himself stood up from his sitting position, moving away slightly as the dragon lumbered over to the motionless form of Jericho's body. The dread dragon carefully picked up the body in one large claw. Those red eyes with the green rings caught Beastboy's gaze again.

"_**Please do not try to look for me again." **_Jericho said as the dragon's claw that held the body of the small teen reached over towards Beastboy. The green Titan could only watch as Jericho's body was laid out on the ground before him. _**"Bring this back with you. Tell them that you found me this way."**_

"But-!"

"_**Please Beastboy." **_Jericho said with such desperation that Beastboy's words caught in his throat.

"Why are you doing this?" The green Titan still managed to get out. The dragon looked down at him silently before turning and walking to the edge of the mountain.

"_**This is the only way I can still have a chance to remain." **_Jericho said simply. The dread dragon's wings spread out wide on either side. _**"Thank you for coming all this way to check on me. I am sorry you couldn't get the answers you wanted. Goodbye."**_

And with those words the black dragon took off into the sky. Beastboy stood frozen on the spot for just a second until he was running to the mountain edge where the dragon had been standing.

"Don't lose yourself!" He called out to the dragon in the sky.

He stood there and watched until the dragon disappeared over the horizon. And he continued to stand as the sun began to sink over that same horizon.

Once again alone with his thoughts.

With a little sigh he turned and began walking over to the motionless body on the ground.

Once again alone.

He checked Jericho's pulse. There was none. His chest was motionless just like the rest of his body. He would just appear a dead body to everyone. Just as he wanted.

Was this my fault?

Beastboy found himself asking as he stared down at Jericho.

Did I kill him?

Of course he wasn't really dead. But he might as well be dead. To everyone but Beastboy and Jericho he was dead. Who would he even bring the body to? The Justice League? That would get them off Jericho's trail at least. But Beastboy wasn't too keen on seeing those guys again. He could still feel the disappointed gazes of Superman and the others. He hated that. Being treated like a child, like they had done something wrong. How could they have known all the bad guys would-.

A gust of wind made Beastboy shiver, bringing him back to the world. He quickly shook himself from his thoughts as he gathered the surprisingly light body of Jericho in his arms.

He wouldn't think about that anymore. He already told himself this. Thinking about how the bad guys escaped would only lead him to thinking about Blackfire attacking the tower. Which would lead him to thinking about going to Tamaran…and what happened there.

About Raven killing. About Robin turning him into the Beast. About Starfire-.

Beastboy let out a growl, forcing away those thoughts again. He couldn't stay here on this silent mountain. He needed the city, the noise, the distractions, the friends. He looked back down at the dead Jericho. He knew where to go first.

A moment later a bright green Terradactyle could be seen flying from the mountain top. A young teen gripped securely in its talons.

**XXXXXX**

Cyborg woke up with a start. Rubbing his human eye he glanced at the time that was conveniently located on the same monitor that tracked his heart rate beside his 'bed'.

3 a.m.

He let out a groan before quickly unplugging himself from the monitor and the recharging station that was also near his bed before getting up. There was no way he was going to get back to sleep now. Not after that nightmare.

Still in a half-asleep daze, Cyborg shambled out of his room and down the hall to the makeshift kitchen he had built until the original one could be fixed up.

Grabbing one of the glasses from beside the sink he filled it with tap water before taking a swig. The water helped with his dried mouth but not with clearing his head. Setting the glass down on the counter he looked outside the window that was situated over the sink.

The Titan's tower could easily be seen from here. Or what was left of it. It pained Cyborg that he still had to think of it as such. But that didn't make it any less true. They were maybe at the halfway point, but everything up until now was the easy part. They were major repairs, there was no doubt, but at least they could work with what was actually there.

The top of the tower was gone. There was no other way to put it. When Malchior escaped he did it from the ground up, and they were at the very base of the tower when he escaped. There had been no room in the tower left untouched. But when the dragon neared the top of the tower he chose to blast his way out. And well, here they were.

Cyborg rubbed his temples, looking away from the tower. He was always getting headaches after seeing what was left of their home. But despite how bad it looked it was still a lot better than how it looked before. Their tower had been through a lot before and survived, Cyborg would be damned if he didn't make sure it would survive this.

"Hey man, good morning!" A chipper voice suddenly filled the once silent kitchen.

Cyborg jumped at this before turning his now cannon morphed arm in the direction of the voice. He found himself aiming at a teen with red hair, dressed in a red and yellow costume, leaning back in a chair, legs kicked up on top of the kitchen table. He grinned cheerily when Cyborg's eyes met his.

"Yo." He greeted with a wave.

"Damnit Kid." Cyborg sighed with a mixture of relief and frustration, cannon replaced with a regular hand as he let his arm fall to his side, "Do you know how close I was to fryin' your butt?"

"Did you realize how close I was to _you _for the past five minutes?" Kid Flash countered, his grin now mocking.

Cyborg could only shake his head before pulling up the only other chair at the table and sitting down.

"Feet off the table." He spoke. Kid Flash removed his feet with a chuckle.

"Jeez, someone is grouchy today."

"Man you can't even call it today yet; it's three in the morning!" Cyborg said exasperated before fixing the speedster with a suspicious look, "Wait, its three in the morning…just what are you doing in here?"

Cyborg thought of an answer before Kid Flash could give his.

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah." Kid Flash answered, losing his smile, "Red-X showed up."

Cyborg had to gather his wits after that announcement.

"Red-X, really? He's back with him?"

"Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?"

"The guy was pretty banged up. Looked like he was attacked by some wild animal actually. He was cut up and bleeding pretty badly. He coulda showed up there because he had nowhere else to go."

"And you don't know what did it?"

"Haven't a clue."

Cyborg stared into space as he thought. It didn't last long and he was quickly looking back at Kid Flash.

"He didn't see you did he?"

"Of course not!" Kid Flash shot, looking a little offended as he folded his arms.

"And Jinx-."

"She won't blow my cover."

"You sure-"

"I'm sure." The speedster said all traces of a smile gone from his face as he fixed Cyborg with a serious look. "If she didn't tell her old goonies about me she won't tell a guy like him."

"You don't know that she didn't tell them." Cyborg pointed out, feeling as though he has had this same conversation with Kid a thousand times. "She could be stringing you a long just like what your doin' to her."

"I'm done talking about this." Kid Flash spoke, standing up abruptly from his chair. "I just came by to let you know what's going on."

"Hey wait, I'm sorry alright?" Cyborg said, standing up as well, "I didn't mean to harp on you like that. It's just late and I'm…"

"Going through a lot?" Kid Flash finished for him, a smile on his face again, though this one looked very bitter. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Hey Kid, listen man-."

"It's late Cyborg, just like you said. I didn't have any real reason to come here. Just one question before I go. We still keeping this a secret from Robin and your other buddies?"

"Yes." Cyborg said without missing a beat. Kid Flash nodded as if it was the answer he was expecting.

"Right. Catch you later."

And then he was gone in a blur of yellow and red before Cyborg could even respond. The metallic Titan let out another sigh as he fell back down into his chair. He must have really pissed Kid off for him to leave like that.

The kid must have already been bothered…showing up in the middle of the night like he did. Cyborg laid his head down at the table, suddenly feeling tired again. His decent into sleep was staved off however when the sounds of someone rapping heavily on the front door.

"Damnit Kid…" Cyborg muttered. Standing up he then heard the person at the door call out.

"Hey Cy! Wake up dude! It's an emergency man come on!"

Cyborg paused for a moment before he found himself running at the door. He immediately flung it open as soon as he reached the door, revealing a small green teenager carrying another teenager in his arms.

"Beastboy!"

"Yo dude!" Beastboy greeted with an awkward grin. That quickly faded however as he looked down at the boy in his arms. "Found Jericho."

Confused at his suddenly sad expression Cyborg looked back down at the boy in Beastboy's arms. Immediately he felt his stomach drop with the scans from his biotic eye told him Jericho's vital signs…or the lack thereof.

"Oh man…"

"So…" Beastboy spoke quickly, looking back up at Cyborg with another pitiful attempt at a smile, "Can we come in?"

**XXXXXX**

"Take deep and even breaths." Raven said to Kyd Wykkyd as the two sat cross legged on the floor, "Keep your eyes closed and try to think of nothing but your breathing."

She watched Kyd Wykkyd nod at her words but she could tell he was still struggling to clear his mind. His face was scrunched up in concentration, his human hand was clenched up in a fist, and the demon hand was twitching consistently in his lap.

Raven couldn't really blame his lack of focus when she herself was having trouble focusing. Even now she found herself glancing at the demon hand. A black hand with bright purple veins. It really was beautiful to behold, she had said as much to Kyd Wykkyd, much to her embarrassment. If she could she would allow Kyd Wykkyd to keep it in that cast he was wearing when he first showed up here, for her sake if nothing else, but that wouldn't help him. You couldn't fix your problems by hiding from them. Raven knew that better than most.

Kyd Wykkyd's eyes opened again and Raven was taken aback once again about how red they were. Admittedly she used to be afraid of those eyes. They looked so much like her father's…and of hers. But being with him like this, not as enemies, not fighting, she could see something more in those red eyes…something human.

Like now, she could see a look of annoyance in those eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." Raven spoke, giving Kyd Wykkyd an annoyed look of her own, "Meditating is not something you'll learn overnight, it takes a lot of practice. Plus it won't help when there is something bothering you."

Kyd Wykkyd looked surprised at that before averting his eyes from her. Raven could feel betrayal coming from him.

"I don't need to read your mind in order to read how you are feeling." The Titan spoke, "Something happened and you are troubled about it. That's all I know. I promise."

Kyd Wykkyd eyed her again and Raven was momentarily caught up in those red eyes. She could still see the mistrust in all that red but there was definitely something more going on behind those eyes.

"Now, did you want to talk about it?"

Kyd Wykkyd quickly shook his head.

"Then this is a good time to learn to push away whatever it is that is bothering you. Don't think about it right now. Don't let it weigh you down. Right now there is just you and me in this room. There is just you breathing in this room. Now close your eyes and try again."

He gave her an irritated look and a silent huff, clearly saying it won't be as easy as she says. But again he closed his eyes and tried breathing deeply. It only took a few minutes before his face wrinkled up again and his hand clenched. The demon one never stopped twitching. Raven sighed and immediately Kyd Wykkyd's eyes opened, fixing her with an annoyed glare.

"You are concentrating too much. And you are too easily distracted." Raven said, choosing to remain unfazed by the boy's look, "If you want to gain more control over your demon you have to learn how to do this."

Kyd Wykkyd's glare moved from fixing on her to looking down at the hand in question. Raven looked at it as well. Under its host's gaze Raven could see that the demon hand was moving around less freely. She watched as it was forced to clench into a fist. Kyd Wykkyd looked back up at her.

"You can't control it like that forever." Raven spoke, returning his look, "It takes too much of your concentration and it will only fight you back stronger. With meditation you would be able to use it like you would your other arm. Then…"

Then what? Kyd Wykkyd was watching her closely now.

Then he would be back in the streets, thieving, harming people.

But she wasn't a Titan any longer. The Justice League had removed her status of hero, whatever that was. She was left alone in light of her services under Robin and in stopping the end of the world a year ago.

But she wasn't a Titan. She wasn't a hero.

But no one has the right to keep you from doing good. That is what Robin would say. He was suspended from being a hero but Raven knew he was still out there carrying out justice, being a hero.

And what was she doing?

Helping a villain. Teaching someone with a demon arm how to control it, how to use it.

She herself had told him not to think of labels while they were in this room, and she still believed that. But what would happen after? Would she be hunted by the Justice League or even the Titans if Kyd Wykkyd decided to do something really harmful with his demon?

And what if the demon in him got worse? What if he never learns to control it…or becomes unable to control it. Was she just wasting her time then? Would it be best to just capture him now and lock him away where he couldn't hurt anyone? What if he fought back…

What if she…

Galfore's big bearded face suddenly flashed through Raven's mind. Her breath caught in her throat. All day spent meditating but thoughts like those were still getting through. Already her heart rate increased, her throat closed up slightly.

Getting in a meditative stance Raven pushed away the outside world and lost herself in her repeated mantra.

"Azeroth, Metrion, Zinthos. Azeroth, Metrion, Zinthos."

As she continued she felt her own body begin to relax. Just focus on the breathing and the words. Just breathing and words, nothing more.

After a few more hours of this Raven decided it would be enough. She opened her eyes and immediately realized what she had done.

She was floating in the air, something that just happens without her influence. And she was looking down at Kyd Wykkyd who was still sitting, looking back up at her. He must have been sitting there for the whole two or three hours she had been meditating.

"I'm sorry." Raven spoke, floating back down to her feet. "Something…came up."

Kyd Wykkyd watched her for another second or so before nodding in understanding. He then raised his demon arm in the air so that Raven could see it. The Titan wasn't sure at first why he was doing this but as she continued to look she noticed something different.

"It's not moving." She noted, admittedly surprised. Kyd Wykkyd nodded, remaining straight faced. "Did you find something that helped you clear your head?"

Kyd Wykkyd only shrugged before closing his eyes and began breathing deeply again.

Raven watched him closely. His face looked much more relaxed and his hand never turned into a fist. But if Raven wasn't mistaken…she felt something like…embarrassment emanating from him.

"Boys." She said under her breath.

**XXXXXXX**

The sewer stunk a lot worse than Robin feared. He thought his time spent running through places like this would have dulled his senses somewhat. Not the case in this sewer.

But it wasn't the smell of the sewer itself that got to him so much. There was something else in that stench, something fouler than anything the Titan had smelled before. It was also slightly familiar in a way, but it was masked too much by other smells for Robin to lock down on it.

It bothered him the further he progressed through the maze of pipelines. But while he couldn't figure out what it was it did get stronger the closer he got to his destination. That made him anxious, but not enough to move any faster than this brisk walk he had going. There was _something _in these tunnels. Something that attacked Red-X. Something that almost killed him. Something that had scared him enough to tell Robin about it.

Of course he didn't know it was Robin in the dark and rain. He just thought it was some stranger who found him half dead in the streets of downtown Jump City. Red-X had been in such a state of panic that he had begged Robin to take him to the mansion out in the middle of the woods. A mansion Robin didn't even know existed until now.

Robin drove Red-X there, curious as to what had happened, and kept his identity a secret. The whole ride Red-X had been trying to calm himself, but at the same time he kept telling Robin not to go down into the sewers. That same warning over and over again.

The Titan was too hesitant to follow Red-X into the mansion. In case someone there might recognize him and blow his cover. Someone did open the door and let Red-X in but Robin had not been in the position to see them. Robin had made a mental note to return there and bug the place.

Red-X had been with them after all. When Blackfire and her group attacked the tower. Robin had to fight the urge to kidnap and get information out of Red-X himself for the whereabouts of the others. He actually only decided against it when Red-X had told him about the mansion.

It was a long shot but the others could be there as well, harboring him.

That would have to wait for later though. Sometime after he figured out just what in the world was making its home down in these sewers…and just what exactly Red-X was after going in here. Unless he was hiding or making an escape through the sewers. But Robin doubted that. These particular pipelines were too intricate to make a quick escape, plus there were no places of interest to steal from so far into the downtown part of Jump. And hiding? Why would Red-X hide in sewers when he had a perfectly good mansion that not even the Boy Wonder knew about?

No. He was after something. And something was after him.

The distant sound of splashing echoed in Robin's ears. It was still following him. Good. The Titan was sure that whatever had been following him for the past hour was still unaware that he was aware of him. The sounds that it made were so subtle that if Robin had his eyes opened he would be unable to hear it. But the training he took on his journey to learn under the Master, notably his trials with the Snake, taught him how to maneuver and fight in pitch blackness. Much more than that however. It taught him how to 'see' using his other senses.

How to pinpoint certain things using smell and sound. Such as the unique stench of the thing that followed him, how it got closer the further he walked. Or the sound of the thing as it suddenly appeared behind him.

Robin ducked under the blow that was sent for his head. More than likely surprising his attacker the Titan kept balance on one foot while using the other to kick out behind him. He easily made contact with the thing, sending it flying back down the tunnel. However Robin never heard it make contact with the water or the walls.

Instead it appeared in front of him again. Turning the tables as it gripped the unsuspecting Titan by the neck and lifted him effortlessly in the air. The skin of the things hands was wet and cold and much different than a human's. As Robin struggled against the grip he felt the thing breathe on his face and he smelled that unique smell again. He felt sick.

It was the smell of blood.

Getting over his sudden case of fear and surprise Robin sent two well placed feet into the thing's midsection again. Robin heard the splash of water this time as it fell back into the sewage water, releasing the Titan in the process.

Robin took in a deep breath, bringing great relief to his lungs, before running back down the way he had come. He kept his ears open as he ran but he knew it wouldn't do much good. The thing could appear wherever it wanted somehow. Like now Robin could hear it running somewhere beside him.

The Titan didn't have the advantage he thought he would have in this darkness. This creature could see perfectly well without a light source. So then maybe…

He reached into his belt and pulled out a hand full of small metallic balls. He heard a hiss from somewhere much too close for comfort. He leapt to the side, dropping the balls on the ground as he did. Upon contact with the water they burst into bright flashes of light and Robin chose then to finally open his eyes.

What he saw made him regret ever doing that.

The shape of the creature was human, but that was all that was human about it. In that brief window of light Robin saw it all. Shiny black skin with what looked like veins-colored purple- decorated the skin. It stared back at him with pure, red eyes. It smiled at him with dirtied, razor sharp teeth. There was no nose. The ears were pointed. Its hair was long and white. And before it all went dark again it chuckled.

Its laugh was as cold as ice. It no doubt laughed at the horrified expression on Robin's face. It no doubt grinned because now it knew it had the advantage.

But it underestimated the Boy Wonder's reserve. He had seen many terrible, horrifying things just from his short time working with Batman. He remembered this as he pulled out the bow-staff from his utility belt. Already getting over his surprise and pushing the fear into that dark corner in his mind.

If he was to take vengeance on those that destroyed his world. If he was to have any hope of bringing his team back together…to save Starfire….

If he was to do anything from this point forward…he was going to have to fight.

**XXXXXX**

**To Be Continued…**

**XXXXXX**


	5. Five Princes

**The Cursed One**

**Chapter 5:**

**Five Princes**

**XXXXXX**

The young Tameranian princess kept her head down as she was escorted to the briefing chamber. The stone floor was all she saw as the guards led her down the too long and too wide hallway. She hardly felt the hand on the shoulder from the one that now ruled her people. She was still unsure what to call him, or even what he looked like. She could not ever bring herself to look him in the eyes. He was not one of her people. That much was certain.

"Please be on your best behavior for our guests, my Princess." He spoke to her, like a child, "They are very important people and for the sake of our future we must keep them happy."

Starfire wanted to hurt him. She never felt such desires before, not even for her enemies. She fought because she had to in order to survive. But she wanted to hit him just for the sake of hitting him.

"And please keep your head up when they speak to you, Princess, many of our guests are very sensitive when it comes to their pride and honor."

She wasn't sure where this creature picked up the English language, or why he was choosing to speak it when talking with her. She knew he was capable of the Tamaran language. She had heard him speak it before, whether it be telling orders to the guards or giving speeches to her people. So why now? Was he just trying to taunt her…or did he simply not want the guards around them to understand…

She felt his breath on her ear suddenly. She froze up but was forced to continue walking.

"I promise you will live to regret it if you chose to disobey my wishes. My dear Princess."

It was so quick, it lasted less than a second, but after those words she felt frozen lips dance over her neck before the thing slithered back at arm's distance from her. She could barely will her legs to continue moving. Her head suddenly felt heavy. But before she knew it the sounds of large doors being forced open brought her partway back into herself.

She looked up reflexively, looking past the great stone doors that had just been opened, and stopping at the large, circular, stone table. Five figures sat at the semicircle farthest from her and her escort, the other half of the table was reserved for her and….him.

The thing in question appeared at the corner of her eyes and Starfire instantly let her gaze fall. She didn't see anything, just darkness. She heard him say something but it was in a language she could not understand. He said something else, in a language much different than the one he said before, though it was filled with clicking noises and again Starfire couldn't understand. Again he spoke, another language, very guttural and rough sounding.

"I speak language." A voice answered. The words were gruff and clearly spoken with difficulty. "Fellow Princes and myself know Earth speech only I speak."

"If it would not be so much trouble would you mind speaking it for the remainder of our meeting? Our fair Princess finds comfort in the language and I fear she needs all the solace in the universe right now. Isn't that correct my Princess?"

Starfire felt a sharp poke at her side and she immediately looked up at the table again, remembering the thing's words. She found herself looking at a mass of muscle. Skin was a faded red color and covered with various scars, war paint, and bones that had been specially chosen to cover the large body with armor. His face and body were completely bare of hair. Starfire's gaze met his then and she was taken aback not just by how brightly yellow his eyes were but how intensely he was staring back at her.

The two stared at each other for a moment before the man suddenly beamed a wide smile. Starfire was again surprised when then all she could see was row upon row of razor sharp teeth. But even more so…the smile wasn't meant to be threatening. In fact the man even started to laugh. He started to say something in that guttural speech of his before he caught himself.

"Like her." He said, smile still on his face as he stopped laughing. "Look dangerous."

He then pointed to one of his eyes, still looking at her. Starfire instantly knew he was referring to the scars over her blinded eye.

"Tameranian people generally leave their scars to bear." The thing beside her spoke, "Something your people do as well, Prince Yorgaldin, if I am not mistaken?"

"Yes!" The big red one said excitedly, "Scars strength, bravery, …fire in heart." He said this as he beat his chest once with a closed fist, "Princess scars few but what there is good."

"How kind of you to say, Prince Yorgaldin." Starfire then felt the soft but firm grip of the thing's hand on her shoulder, "Don't you think, Princess Starfire?"

"Yes, thank you, Prince Yorgaldin." Starfire spoke, bowing low. She felt the grip leave her shoulder as she did.

"Call Yorg." The prince said as Starfire straightened up, pointing at himself, he then nodded to her. "Starfire Earthen name…please…what Tameranians call Starfire?"

Once again Starfire was taken aback by this red man. For both the question and the encouraging smile he was giving her.

"I am known as Koriand'r on my planet, but if it pleases you, you may call me whatever you wish." Starfire spoke, adding in the last part to keep the thing beside her off her back.

"Kori…and'r…" Prince Yorg said, pronouncing the letters slowly and carefully. Starfire had to admit she was impressed by how easily he pronounced her name; despite the gruff language of his native tongue he seemed to be a pretty intelligent individual. "Name nice. Matches person. Nice."

He said so with a wide smile and before Starfire knew it she was smiling back in return.

"My gratitude, Prince Yorg." Starfire spoke, bowing her head without provocation this time.

"Enough…seducing…Prince Yorgaldin…" A voice spoke then. It was harsh and mechanical though strangely it also sounded like it was talking while submersed in water.

Starfire looked to the speaker. It was another foreign alien, unlike any she had seen before. Its body was large, similar to Yorg's, only where Prince Yorgaldin's body was riddled with muscles and bones this creature didn't look as intimidating. Its body was shrouded by a cloak, from the neck down it remained hidden from view. But the head was more than enough for Starfire.

It was large and bulbous. There were two eyes but one was far different from the other One was small, beady, and black, Starfire assumed this to be the alien's natural eye for the other looked like it had been altered by machinery. Metallic plating and wires protruded from the fleshy, green skin around the eye, in a circular pattern, and what Starfire could only guess was a magnifying glass of some sort was held before the eye, making it appear at least ten times larger than the little eye. This enhanced eye was also red, and glowing.

Most of the things face also had bits and pieces of wires and metal appearing from it, they looked like they were interlocking the major pieces of machinery that made up his head. Like the clear dome that was housing his brain within his head, bathed in a glowing red liquid that surrounded it. Two large tubes extended from the dome to the clear mask he wore over his mouth, that to was filled with the same bright red liquid that filled both his brain and eye.

"Not seduce! Just talk." Prince Yorgaldin assured, folding his massive arms and looking very grumpy.

"Regard…less…there is…plenty…of time…for simple chatter…let us focus…on the war." The Prince continued, the red liquid that surrounded his mouth bubbled fiercely as he spoke.

That garnered Starfire's interest, but at the same time it felt like her heart was falling down through her chest.

"If doing so would please the other Princes. Though if you'll allow me, Prince Kai'to, I was not aware you spoke Earthen English." The thing beside her spoke.

"It was easy…to learn…hearing it…from surroundings…" The mechanical Prince replied before falling silent once more.

Starfire looked to the others that sat at the other side of the table. Prince Yorgaldin sat at the middle of the five Princes. The Prince in the black robe with the mechanical face sat at the far end to Starfire's right. In between the two Princes that had spoken so far sat something that Starfire could only describe as a giant bug. Unlike many Earth women Starfire never had a problem with the bugs that inhabited the planet. But this one…it was like seeing one of those bugs only 100x bigger…and she had a problem with that.

It was watching the thing that stood beside her with large black eyes. The feelers that extended above those eyes twitched and moved around constantly. Two pairs of arms rested on the table they sat at, Starfire was unsure how many limbs it actually had but she wasn't keen on trying to find out. Its wings were large and were currently wrapped around the bug-like alien like a cloak, thankfully keeping much of its body from Starfire's view. Its head was more than enough for her. Pale and dry looking skin with multiple dark hairs protruding from it. She wasn't really sure where its mouth was. There was something where a mouth was supposed to be but it looked like one of those 'beaks' Starfire remembered seeing on squids when she watched that ocean documentary video back at the Tower.

Suddenly wishing not to examine this thing any longer Starfire moved her eyes to the Prince sitting to the very right of Prince Yorgaldin. There she saw someone far from what she was expecting.

He appeared human, more human than the other Princes anyways, but the key difference was that his skin looked like solid silver. Other than that he was a man with chiseled good looks and dark eyes that seemed to be deliberately not looking at her. He wore the same dark clothes with silver linings that he wore during their first meeting only now it was accompanied with a royal red cloak, the hands that rested on the table also were clothed in very red and very expensive looking gloves. Despite the animosity Starfire knew he felt towards her she had felt no true hatred for him.

Until now that is.

"You!" Starfire hissed, feeling her hands clench.

She heard the thing beside her stop talking immediately. Apparently she had cut him off during some important talk he was giving. But she didn't care. She focused her attention on the silver man that was still not looking at her.

"Why are you here!"

"Princess…I would ask that you treat our important guests with respe-." The thing beside her began, but she would have none of it.

"No!" Starfire exclaimed, slamming her fists against the table, the table cracking evidently below her hands. The room grew much quieter then. Starfire felt the eyes of everyone on her, but she did not care. "You will answer me Val-Yor! Why are you here!"

"Koriand'r know Val-Yor?" Prince Yorgaldin questioned, rather meekly for someone of his stature and size.

"I was told we would be having a civilized discussion this evening." The silver man finally spoke, still keeping his eyes firmly away from her, "Do even the royalty of your people act like wild dogs?"

Starfire felt her body grow hot as her hands began to grow a bright green. Everyone tensed evidently then. Even Val-Yor who finally looked over at her. Starfire felt a sense of satisfaction from this.

"Princess Starfire you will desist at once!" The thing beside her ordered. He never spoke this loud and harshly to her before and it caught her off-guard. Enough not to notice the two guards that were beside her until they had their hands on her arms.

She kept her gaze locked with Val-Yor's however. She could not read into anything in those dark eyes, nothing except the usual contempt and disgust.

"Why are you here?" Starfire asked one last time, feeling the guards beginning to drag her away.

"For the reason we are all here, Princess." Val-Yor answered, saying the words in that same mocking tone that she remembered, "To assist your kind in the war against Earth and to, ultimately, win your hand in marriage."

Starfire said nothing more. Not when the guards dragged her from the room. Not when she heard the doors close to the meeting room and hearing Yorgaldin cry out: "Not before Yorg win hand!" And not when she was left alone and crying in her bedroom.

**XXXXXX**

"Forgive me for our Princess's actions. She has not been herself lately." The troq in the black robe spoke.

At least Val-Yor assumed it was one of those orange skinned people. It covered itself up so much he could not make any details. Probably for the best, he never really liked the look of them.

"It fine. Koriand'r better soon?" The Gordainian Prince questioned.

"Feelings…irrelevant…must focus…on war." The Yusk Prince gurgled.

Val-Yor never felt more uncomfortable in his life. He felt surrounded by these inferior beings, suffocated by them.

The Gordainians appeared just as vicious and savage as the troqs; the two rulers were even appearing to get along. The Yusks were no better than the Locrix that Val-Yor personally fought off and destroyed over a year ago. He knew his next step would be to take them out after Earth. He wasn't even sure why that insect was here. He had never even seen its kind in space before and they appeared so easy to squish. How would they be any help at all? In fact Val-Yor could not believe any of these Princes to be of any use in the coming war. They would only get in the way.

He happened to glance to his right just then, instantly reminding him of the one remaining prince that sat beside him. Not that it really did Val-Yor any good that he noticed this particular prince. At first glance all that sat beside Val-Yor was a cloud of black smoke, but the Vernathian Prince knew better. At such a close distance he could make out a head, a limb, but it was only occasionally. Sometimes he would see a pair of bright white eyes but those too would disappear into the black smoke almost as soon as Val-Yor noticed them.

All in all it was another unimpressive and ultimately worthless prince. How could a puff of smoke, even if there were legions of them, contribute anything to the war effort?

"Let us get down to business then." The troq in the robe spoke, "First allow me to thank you all for agreeing to meet here, and to do so unguarded. I know tensions must be high now but I feel things will go more smoothly knowing that each and every one of us is just as vulnerable as the other. With that being said shall we move on to the introductions? I wish this to be as informal as possible so if it would please the Prince's let us introduce ourselves by name, which planet we are from, and what major contribution we shall be bringing to the war against Earth. I shall speak for those who are unable to. With such an introduction to begin our debriefing I believe things will progress smoothly and with little confusion. Prince Kai'to, if you would start for us?"

"I am…Prince Kai'to… i'sjusan'do… of planet…Yusk." The Yuskin Prince spoke, seemingly with great difficulty as the red liquid bubbled around his mouth, "My people…and I…will provide…cybernetic…enhancements…to those…willing to accept…as well as…legions of…androids…that will serve…Tamaran…against Earth…"

He definitely won't be sticking me with any of those things. Val-Yor thought, looking at the implants the Prince himself had with more than a hint of disgust. That's how the Locrix started. Small, seemingly harmless cybernetic implants to their bodies that progressively got more and more consuming and advanced until they were nothing but mindless killing machines. Once this war was over Val-Yor would definitely work on wiping out these Yuskers, and anyone stupid enough to accept their implants.

"Very good. Prince Seenischeell is from the planet Munchen, near the edge of the galaxy." The troq then said, nodding his covered head at the insect that sat beside the Yusker. "He will be providing us with the bulk of our ground and air forces as his people number in the trillions. He also would like us to know that the number of his kind could be seen as infinite, as to how quickly his kind breed and mature."

Val-Yor eyed the insect prince. Just because you have a lot of something that is weak doesn't make it any stronger. The alien was arrogant and appeared to enjoy flaunting its false superiority. That alone might make it trouble. But then again Val-Yor could just squash it when no one was looking, so he wasn't really worried.

"That creepy." The Gordainian Prince noted, before pausing when everyone's eyes fell on him. It took him a moment to register why. "Oh! Name is Yorg. Father, King Yorgaldin. Planet Gorda. Very pretty, full of life, like Earth. My people ride big monsters. My people fight for glory, honor. Do for Tamaran. Do against Earth people!"

Mindless warriors just like the troqs. The thought of giant monsters admittedly didn't really set Val-Yor at ease, but if he could handle an entire race of aliens he could handle a few brainless barbarians riding even more brainless beasts.

"And we look forward to having you fight by our side, Prince Yorgaldin." The robed troq spoke. It then turned its covered head in Val-Yor's direction, the latter tensing only slightly before speaking.

"I am Val-Yor, Prince of Vernathia. My people will be supplying war ships as well as leadership and war tactics to those who may lack such basic skills." He said this looking to each Prince in turn. While he wasn't keen on working with any of them, Val-Yor also wouldn't let them lose this war for him, "I will also personally be lending my aid on Earth itself, fighting any superhuman or foe too difficult for lesser beings to deal with."

"Yorg too!" Prince Yorgaldin suddenly cut in, raising one large fist in the air, the wrist guards of bones rattling loudly as he did so, "Will fight in person. Fight against strong foes. Fight against super earthlings!"

"Yes we will get to them, all in due time I assure you." The troq spoke before nodding to something at Val-Yor's right. Still annoyed about being interrupted by the red-skinned brute Val-Yor only spared the puff of black smoke a sideways glance.

"This is Prince Sin. I am afraid his planet is impossible to pronounce in any language you Princes are familiar with so he wishes you to know it as Blacken. He and his people have already been a great asset to the Tameranian race. Our war with Earth has officially started months ago thanks to their natural affinity with stealth and infiltration tactics. While no blood has been spilled and Earth remains none the wiser we already have in our possession the data profiles of ever super being that resides in Earth."

The robed troq then nodded to one of his guards. Wordlessly the purple armored alien pulled out what looked like some sort of data chip from one of the pouches around his waist. He then slipped it somewhere out of Val-Yor's vision in the table they all sat at. A spilt moment later a hologram appeared above the center of the table.

They were images. Pictures. Pictures of faces of hundreds of different people and creatures. There may have been thousands for all Val-Yor could count.

"Prince Kai'to, if it would not be too much trouble-."

"They have…been categorized…to your…specifications…" The prince with the mechanical mask mumbled, before nodding his bulbous head at the hologram of pictures.

The pictures instantly started moving all around the empty space above their heads. Many flew away from each other, while some clumped together in small groups. But the groups were small in comparison to the hundreds upon hundreds of pictures that remained alone, or in very small gatherings.

"I must say I am impressed." The robed troq admitted, head turned up at the pictures just as the rest were. "How did you know what I wished you to do?"

"I have…my resources…" The prince gurgled. Val-Yor thought he might have seen that one, magnified red eye glance towards him, but it happened so quickly that he was sure that he must have imagined it.

"There are two groups that are much larger than the other ones." Val-Yor noted, deciding it was his turn to make himself useful. He pointed to the two groups that remained at the center of the table. "I recognize some faces of the group on the right; I believe them to be the Titans."

"Oh? You are correct Prince Val-Yor. I assumed you must have had previous contact with the Titans the way my Princess reacted to seeing you…but I was not sure it was polite to bring up such a topic so soon."

"It is perfectly alright." Val-Yor spoke, holding up a staying hand, "The tr-I mean Starfire and her friends happened to run into me during my war against the Locrix. They were more a nuisance than anything and I quickly parted ways with them before finishing off the remaining Crixxies. I hadn't heard from them since."

"Yorg heard about Locrix." Prince Yorgaldin said, before flashing Val-Yor a sharp toothed grin, "Prince a hero."

"My people…learned of…the Locrix's defeat…shortly after…their demise…" Prince Kai'to piped in fixing Val-Yor with that big red eye. He was quickly starting to hate that eye. The Prince paused for a moment as he waited for the water around his mouth to stop bubbling fiercely before speaking again, "You must be…proud…to extinguish the life…of an entire race…of people…"

"They were not people; they were mindless creatures that wished the destruction of the universe." Val-Yor pointed out, fixing that red eye with a glare of his own, "I merely did what was right by destroying them in turn."

"It is life's purpose…to progress…and advance…what you see as…destruction…could merely be evolution…of intelligent thought process…" Another pause so the red water would die down, "Do not be so…quick to judge…things as mindless…when sometimes…they may be…more intelligent…than anyone…"

"Are you suggesting that what those monsters did to _my_ home planet, what they were planning to do to the entire universe, was a good thing!" Val-Yor spat, hands clenching into fists on the table.

"Prince Val-Yor, Prince Kai'to, please, let us try and keep this meeting civilized…" The robed troq suggested, Val-Yor had half a mind to start shouting at him as well. The fluid mask around the Yuskin Prince's mouth bubbled loudly.

"Of course…not…Prince Val-Yor…I was merely…suggesting…a hypothesis." The mechanical prince said simply, staring into Val-Yor with that large red eye for a single second longer before turning his body away from him.

Val-Yor glared at him for a few more seconds before gritting his teeth and focusing back on the pictures above their head.

"As I was saying, I only spoke with the Titans for a brief amount of time, I am afraid I don't know much else."

"Well that is still more than any of us in this room can say." The robed troq said, his head still focused upwards, "Now, I already am aware that you have met with our Princess…but if you can, Prince Val-Yor, could you point out the other Titans that you had contact with?"

"Shall I just say their names?"

"Yes that will do, the computer will do the rest."

Val-Yor surveyed the clutter of pictures before spotting one he recognized.

"There, the green one, that one is Beastboy."

As soon as he said the name the picture of the green Titan rose up above the gathering of pictures and stayed afloat by itself. The eyes of all the Princes looked up at it.

"Boy look scrawny. Not much fight." Prince Yorgaldin commented, looking unimpressed.

"Don't let appearances fool you." The troq said before nodding to Val-Yor, "Please, continue."

Val-Yor searched again and it didn't take long before he spotted another Titan he recognized.

"The one with the cybernetic body, that's Cyborg."

Cyborg's picture then floated up to join Beastboy's.

"Mechanics appear…rough…primitive…easy to dismantle…" Prince Kai'to mumbled through the red water.

"It's not the mechanical half you should worry about."

"The one in the blue cloak is Raven."

Raven's picture rose to join her teammates.

"Little…scary." Prince Yorgaldin said timidly.

Prince Seenischeell then spoke up for the first time, though it wasn't as much speaking as it was a series of chirps and clicking's of its beak.

"Prince Seenishcheell's kind has had run-ins with this one's father. If she has even a fraction of his strength she should not be underestimated.

"Ooooh. Yorg want fight now!" Prince Yorgaldin pressed, looking up at Raven's picture with awe when just a second ago he had been afraid of her.

"Is there anyone else, Prince Val-Yor?"

"I'm looking; I can't seem to find- wait, there, the one with the eye mask, that is Robin."

Robin's picture then rose from the group and joined the other three, completing what remained of the team.

"Robin super being?" Prince Yorgaldin questioned, studying the picture closely, "Look like human with colorful clothing…what call…clown!"

"His leadership is what you should be wary off." The troq said, head turned upward at the picture as well, "Under his leadership the Titans have accomplished many great and terrible things…"

He trailed off after this which caused all the Princes in the room to look back at the Tameranian in the dark robe, only to see that his head was turned back towards them.

"Which brings me to our next topic of discussion. If it would please my honored guests, I would like to play a game with you all."

"A game? Now? When we are preparing for war?" Val-Yor asked, immediately skeptical.

"Is game fun?" Prince Yorgaldin chose to ask.

"I'm sure you all will find it very enjoyable. And this game has a special role within the war, Val-Yor, a very special role." The troq then stood up from his seat, head turned back up at the hologram of pictures, Val-Yor and the other princes doing so as well, "Jinx. Red-X. Fixit. See-More. Kyd Wykkyd."

As the troq said each name the correlating picture flew from somewhere with the other pictures to join the ones that held the four Titans Val-Yor pointed out, until they were all in their own little group, hovering over every other one. Then the troq pressed a button on the side of the table, instantly every hologram picture faded from view. Every one except for the small gathering that remained at the top.

"We shall go over all of the super beings that inhabit Earth. There will be possibly alliances we will form with some in order to take out others and there will also be resources and supplies we must gather and more info we must gain before we can even hope to take on some of the stronger ones. But these that reside in this group here, these will be the ones that will be important for our game."

The hologram photos then floated down so that they were mostly eye level with the Princes, before expanding in size so that each individual photo could be easily seen.

"These are the super beings that hurt Tamaran the most. These are the ones I and all my people wish to be punished the most. This game of ours has a few, very specific rules that must be followed. But the winner of this game will get the prize that is sought after most in this war against Earth. The hand of our dear Princess Starfire."

"Now hold on!" Val-Yor snapped, "Should we really be placing the marriage of the Princess as the prize of one of your games? Surely her hand should go to the Prince that will provide the most towards victory against Earth and her allies!"

"Earth is full of resources." The troq replied, unfazed by Val-Yor's outburst, "Food, water, slaves, minerals, the planet shall be divided amongst the Princes according to their contributions during the war. But Tamaran's Princess is a different story. Now I have been as polite and welcoming as I can possibly be to my guests but I wish none of you to forget why you all have agreed to set differences aside to aid Tamaran. You all have dying worlds. Whether it be lack of a proper ruler, insufficient resources, or overpopulation, each Prince has a reason to be here. A dire reason. There were many candidates who wished to join Tamaran against Earth but I chose you five out of the rest. And while I am confident that you Princes were the best choice I am not afraid to oust one or two in favor for another that would be more…cooperative. I wish us all to remain on friendly terms however so let this simply serve as a warning against any further objections to my wishes."

Val-Yor fell silent after that. It wasn't often that he found himself talked down by anyone and by a filthy troq no less. But he was in a difficult position, just as the alien said. So difficult that he had to remain here, treated lesser by lesser beings. It was enough to make him sick.

"Now, if there will be no more interruptions, I wish to discuss the rules of this game." The troq continued, still standing behind the table, "First rule, none of them are to be killed. You may torture or maim them however you wish but they must remain alive and with perfectly functioning brains. Second rule is that there will be no killing of one another; your own peoples are a different matter, as long as it is not in numbers so great as it is detrimental to the war, but no Prince can be slain. And the third and final rule is that you are to receive no outside help safe from your own people and resources, each Prince must work individually."

"You explained the rules of the game but not the game itself." Val-Yor commented, growing irritated again as he waved a hand at the line up of pictures, "What exactly are we doing with these kids?"

"Isn't it…obvious?" Kai'to gurgled, his big red eye scanning rapidly over each picture, "We are to…collect them."

"What?"

"That is correct Prince Kai'to." The troq said, nodding in approval, "You are all to capture these dangerous murderers and betrayers and bring them to me. There are nine total, whoever brings me the most, alive, by the end of the war wins our Princess and ultimately, our planet Tamaran."

The Princes studied the pictures for another moment before Val-Yor felt that something more needed to be said.

"Are these kids really that important to you that you would gamble your Princess and planet on a game such as this?" The Vernathian Prince questioned, his tone serious.

The robed troq remained silent before slowly turning his back away from the Princes.

"There is no price I wouldn't pay nor any thing in this universe I wouldn't wager if it meant in the end I was able to personally witness each and every one of them die slowly and painfully at my feet. They are more than important to me, Prince Val-Yor, they are the reason that I exist."

And with that the troq began to exit the room, but not before saying in a much more cheerful tone:

"That will end our meeting for tonight. You will each find your rooms in the locations I discussed earlier for those that wish to remain here. For those that don't please remember to return here the same time tomorrow. We have much more to discuss before the bloodshed begins."

And with that the troq in the black robe was gone. Soon enough the remaining Princes rose from their seats and began to make their exit.

Prince Yorgaldin stretched and said something in his dirty sounding, native language, the bone armor rattling loudly as he moved out of the room. The bug prince followed closely behind and seemed to be cleaning itself with a long black tongue that extended out from its beak. Disgusting. Val-Yor looked around for the puff of smoke but it seemed it had already taken its leave without him noticing.

So that just left him and…

"Prince Val-Yor…a word…if you please…"

"Fine but make it quick, I have to get-." Val-Yor said as he turned to face the other Prince.

He paused his speech however when he saw that Prince Kai'to was already standing before him. The black cloak still covered the body from the neck down, and it was a very large cloak indeed. The Yuskin Prince easily towered over the fairly large Vernathian. The Prince almost looked like he had an amused look hidden somewhere beneath all the metal and flesh.

"Something…wrong…Prince Val-Yor?"

"Nothing. Say it is what you need to say so I can go." The Prince returned, glaring into that large red eye that he hated. He almost forgot about the small black one that was beside it, but when he looked it didn't seem like that particular eye was ever focused on anything.

"You're right…this eye…has no real…purpose." Prince Kai'to responded, the liquid around his mouth bubbling.

"Nothing good ever comes from tampering with ones natural bo-." Val-Yor began to say until something hit him, "…I never said that out loud…"

"To most beings…you said…nothing at all…" Prince Kai'to spoke, "But to me…many things…are very loud-."

"How long have you been inside my head!" Val-Yor shot, wanting to glare at the thing's eye but suddenly realizing that might not be the best idea, so instead he chose to look pissed at its mouth mask. "If the other Prince's knew-."

"The Tameranian…knows…I know…and you know…but you and I…now know something…the Tameranian doesn't…"

"And what is that?" Val-Yor asked in a low voice as the other Prince waited for the bubbles to subside around his mouth.

"Your mistrust…your prejudice…against us…against the Tamarans…one might find…that you may not be…a useful ally…"

"Is that a threat?"

"Merely a…hypothesis…I will keep…your secret…secret…for now…but I will… watch you…" The Yuskin Prince said before turning around and shuffling towards the same door the other Princes left from, "And…trust me…Prince Val-Yor…I can always…watch you…"

And then the Prince was gone, leaving the now silent Val-Yor alone.

**XXXXXX**

Starfire was unsure how long she remained in her bed. When she looked up from her bed sheets she could clearly see that it was well into the night. Though it was strange. The reason she looked up was because she felt a cold draft, but she thought she had closed the doors that led to the outside balcony. Yet when she glanced up they were clearly open and letting in the cold night air.

Cursing her own forgetfulness Starfire stood up from her bed and crossed the short distance to the opened doors, wiping her still wet cheeks with a pajama sleeve.

She made to close the doors as soon as she got to them but her eyes caught something strangely colorful and out of place resting out on the balcony. Instead of closing the doors she opened them wider so she could step outside. The air was even colder now but Starfire barely noticed any more. There, resting on one of the elaborately carved, small stone tables was a clear vase that in it held flowers of all shapes, colors, and sizes.

Starfire quickly moved over to them, she recognized them all; they were flowers from her home planet. Though flowers were rare here, like many plants, but flowers especially so. For someone to pick this many species of flowers they would have had to been searching the entire planet. Who would be that crazy or stubborn to do something like that?

"Robin."

The word came out before Starfire could stop it. She gasped at the word. She hadn't said that name in a very long time.

Instantly feeling like she was wasting time Starfire raced to the edge of the balcony and peered over the side, but no one was there. She looked from side to side, as far off as she could see, but there was no one to be found. Growing more excited and desperate Starfire flew up into the air, not stopping until she was a good distance above the balcony. She had to be quick before the guards saw her but no matter where she looked Starfire could not find anyone.

Finally admitting defeat, the Tameranian Princess let her head fall as her body slowly fell back down to the balcony. When she landed however she thought she saw something move on the ground below her. But when she looked fully at where she thought it was it had already vanished. She shook her head, deciding it was delirium playing trick on her this late at night.

She fought off the dejected feeling as she returned to the vase of flowers, picked it up, and made her way back to her room.

It had to be her seeing things. How else could she explain catching a glimpse of a moving cloud of black smoke?

**XXXXXX**

**To Be Continued**

**XXXXXX**


	6. 6th of its Kind

**Author's Note: Before I go any further with this story I just feel I must apologize for taking such a long hiatus between last chapter and this one (if you follow any of my other stories you know this is not a fist time offense) and excuses aside I would just like to thank any and all of you who have been following Kyd Wykkyd's story and I promise you it shall be completed! I will do my best from here on out to get the rest of this story out in a timely fashion for anyone still reading. And once again thank you all for taking the time to read/review this fanfiction, it really means a lot!**

**Now without further ado…**

**The Cursed One**

**Chapter 6**

**6****th**** of its Kind**

**XXXXXXX**

I rubbed the back of my sore neck as I reappeared in the center of the mansion's kitchen. It had been another late night with the Titan and my stomach had been nagging me for the last few hours. It had gotten so bad that I even considered asking her if she would like to go find something to eat. Thankfully I quickly reasoned that would be an extremely dumb idea. Even if I was to ask she definitely would say no. Well, probably slam my body against the wall a few times and then say no, for emphasis.

I walked over to the big and shiny refrigerator, my stomach almost doing cartwheels in anticipation. Opening it revealed all assortments of food and drink. After See-More and I's little mess-up weeks ago Jinx had been doing most of the shopping while I focused more on "acquiring money". As long as I kept it quick and quiet it was fairly easy to steal from the various banks and stores that littered the city. Though I had to imagine the Titans being in shambles also had a part to play in that.

It was not like they were really needed right now. Aside from my, and Mammoth, Gizmo, and Billy Numerous' apparent robberies, Jump was pretty peaceful. Well, as peaceful as things really could be.

I reached in the refrigerator and grabbed a few slices of leftover pizza and an orange. Jinx had been trying out a few different recipes lately, and she would kill me for not eating more of that strange squash and eggplant concoction but…what she won't know won't hurt her.

Things were still slower and more difficult with just one hand, but thanks to the last few weeks of lessons from the Titan the demon claw thing was being much quieter most of the time. I was still too afraid to do anything with that arm but at least the claw wasn't attempting to move around on its own any longer.

I was too hungry to reheat the pizza and it really wasn't terrible cold. I scarfed the slices down in less than a minute and immediately proceeded to unpeel the orange. The peeling was tedious and I didn't particularly like the taste of oranges but Jinx had been scolding us lately on the lack of our healthy eating and the dangers of 'scurvy'.

Finished with the peeling I decided to eat the orange on the go as I stepped out of the kitchen. I assumed Jinx would appreciate the orange peelings on the countertop because then she would know for sure we were eating healthier now. That was my excuse for being too lazy to clean it anyways.

As I passed through the short hallway that lay between the kitchen and the stairs a blue light from one of the adjourning rooms ahead of me caught my attention. It caught me off-guard, so much so in fact I nearly choked on one of the slices of orange. It wasn't so much the light that bothered me, but the room that the light was coming from. It was the room that held Fixit's computer.

Placing the orange quietly on the ground, I moved against the wall and creeped as quietly as I could against it until I reached the room itself. Peering around the corner and into the room it was easy to see that Fixit's computer was indeed on. Though there was also a darkened figure standing in front of his computer. I debated on either attacking him or drawing his attention for a moment or two before the figure spoke.

"Yo Kyd, what're you doing up so late?"

I couldn't help but breathe out a silent sigh of relief. It was only Red-X. I quickly stepped around the corner of the open doorway and into the room.

"Guess I should have closed the door if I wanted to be private huh? Though a gentleman knocks before entering a room." Red-X continued, turning to me and folding his arms.

He still stood in front of the screen so it was still impossible to make out any details of him. Though I knew he was still wearing his mask and, unless he found some clothes lying around, he'd still be wearing nothing but pajama pants and bandages.

I folded my own arms and leered at him and while I wasn't sure if he could make out any features on me I figured he got the message.

"Yeah yeah I know, got to stay in bed, you don't need to bore me with the details Kyd, Pinky's got that job waaaaay covered."

Not satisfied I kept my arms folded while trying to peer around his body to see what was on the screen. Not surprisingly Red-X moved his own body to keep my view obscured.

"Look Kyd I'll get back to bed in just a few minutes…let me just…finish up with this…"

The room then got very quiet. I even felt my face begin to get several degrees warmer. And I suddenly didn't have any more desire to see what was on that screen. Even if I could speak I wouldn't have any words to say.

Was he really….on _Fixit's computer!?_

"It is alright Red-X. Kyd Wykkyd is authorized to know." Fixit's voice spoke, suddenly breaking through the very awkward silence. I had never before been so glad to hear that emotionless, logical voice.

"Oh thank god." Red-X breathed, seemingly equally as relieved, before reaching up and rubbing the back his head, "So yeah, not watching porn or anything Kyd, so get your head out of that cold dark gutter of yours."

I felt my face grow even hotter. It was clear that that was what the red bastard wanted me to think until Fixit blew his cover, but it's not like I could argue with him. Trying to help push anymore of those disturbing thoughts aside I moved forward towards Fixit's computer, Red-X moving to one side as I did. What he revealed made me pause for a moment.

"Weird right?" Red-X asked, his masked face facing the computer screen as well.

I nodded, though weird was an understatement. What was on Fixit's computer was a photo of what looked like the inside of some meeting room, though it wasn't just your everyday fat men in business suits meeting room. Whoever it was that took the picture was sitting at some weirdly dark colored stone table and was looking across the table at a thing that could only be described as a giant bug in a cape. It wasn't any bug I could think of at the top of my head and it was grotesquely realistic looking with several pairs of arms folded on the table and its wings wrapped around its body like the cape I had previously thought it was wearing. Not wanting to stare at it any longer as it was beginning to want to make me release all the food I had just eaten I gave Red-X my best of puzzled looks.

"You're telling me." Red-X commented, noticing my look, "Fixit was just showing me these pictures when you walked in, see, there's more."

While I would much rather get an explanation as to why Fixit was showing Red-X a picture of a gross looking bug I had to admit that I was curious as to what other pictures Fixit's computer had. And looking back to the screen I was in for yet another shock.

It was the same person taking the picture in the same room sitting at the same table, only now the picture was of a different person sitting at the table. At first I thought I was looking at a mountain of animal bones, though on closer inspection there was actually a "man" wearing those bones. If you could even call him a man. Underneath the bones was a…thing with massive muscles and bright red skin, he was smiling at someone who sat across from him but out of view of the camera and while the smile looked friendly enough the teeth that made up the smile were of various sizes and all razor sharp.

"And then we have this suspiciously handsome silver guy." Red-X stated, clicking a side arrow by the picture switching it to a photo of…basically what Red-X just described.

Despite the obviously disgusted look the silver man had in the picture he was definitely a lot easier to look at then the last two things. If he didn't appear made of silver he would just look like your run of the mill person.

"And then there's this." The master thief continued, clicking over to the next photo.

It looked just like smoke, thick black smoke that appeared to be rising from the seat the photographer had taken a picture of. I tried to see through it, perhaps catching a glimpse in case something perhaps hiding in there, but my searching proved fruitless. It was just smoke, nothing more, nothing-.

"Apparently that's supposed to be an alien prince." Red-X spoke nonchalantly. This made me blink a few times before looking over in his direction, silently wondering if he had gotten enough sleep recently. Red-X only looked back at me and continued speaking:

"All of them are princes, so says Fixit here. This mobile choking hazard is called Sh…uh…Sh-something…what was it again Fixit?"

"Prince Sin." Fixit stated blankly, causing Red-X to cough awkwardly. I gave him a raised eyebrow that he refused to acknowledge.

"Prince Sin…yeah I knew that…must have been thinking of one of the others or something…"

"Prince Val-Yor." Fixit continued and I looked back to see that the picture had changed itself to the frowning silver guy.

"Prince Yorgaldin." The picture was now that of the red man wearing bones.

"And Prince Seenischeell." Fixit said as the picture went back to the bug thing, to which I quickly averted my eyes; there was no way I was going to look at that again.

"Seenischeell! Yeah that's what I was thinking of…" Red-X said, mostly to himself. While I wasn't looking at the screen I began to continue thinking about why Fixit was showing us pictures of weird looking alien princes, I chose to direct my confusion to Red-X.

"Still confused right?" Red-X asked, catching my look, to which I nodded, "Don't worry, I was too, just wait, you haven't seen the best picture yet."

He said this as he nodded at the glowing screen. For some reason I felt a bit reluctant to look this time but my curiosity quickly won over any apprehension and I looked back at the screen.

Several things happened at once, my heart beat quickened, the demon claw twitched a fraction, and everything suddenly became clear.

It was Starfire, looking particularly sad and forlorn with a lowered head and scarred face with what just looked like a figure in a large robe seated beside her. While I could not make out anything with the robed one all I needed was to see the Titan for everything to quickly make sense.

"Looks like the whole "War on Earth" thing didn't die with Blackfire." Red-X spoke as I could only stare at the screen, and then in a much quieter force, "It's too bad, she had a pretty cute face too."

"It is true. It appears Tameranian disdain did not disappear upon Blackfire's death." Fixit spoke as the pictures of all the princes appeared on the screen, "Indeed it would seem that Tamaran has gathered allies and is preparing a full assault against Earth. Red-X was skeptical of this information, as I am sure you are Kyd Wykkyd, but I assure you this is true. I believe the prince of the very planet that helped make me to what I am now is also one of the princes that has allied themselves with Tamaran. That is how I am able to gather this information. It appears this prince is secretly collecting data on the princes and sending them to his own forces. I picked up on the foreign signal and managed to decode and import it here. Unfortunately, due to my limited processing, I can only retrieve small amounts of data that is represented in these pictures and what little information I can hold in my memory. If I am to learn more about what is happening I require a much more highly advanced storage capacitor."

I had to take a few steps back, my head suddenly feeling much heavier than it just was. Tamaran was still going to launch an assault on Earth? And it had the help of at least five different species of alien? It was almost too much to take in.

"Look I get that this is a big deal and everything but how can I be sure everything you're telling us is even really happening?" Red-X questioned Fixit, appearing to be equally as unable to handle this new information as I was, "I mean you're not even the same Fixit that was there when we killed Blackfire. For all we know you could still be programmed to work for her…or towards her purposes or whatever, you could be telling us this to lead us on some wild goose chase to get you back to fighting shape so you can take us back to Tamaran and get us thrown away again!"

"I may not be the Fixit that helped you in stopping Blackfire, but I am the Fixit that learned of Blackfire's traitorous nature. My 'programming' as you put it was not in service of her but in service of my own self. I only wish to see the perseverance of my own existence, and since I am physically unable on acting on this information I am relaying it to the two only physically able organisms I can trust. Whatever doubts you may have concerning me or my alliances must be put aside for I assure you, whether I am trying to mislead you or not will not matter if this alliance attacks an Earth unprepared."

A silence fell in the small room for a short while as Red-X seemed to gather his thoughts. He and I shared a glance for a moment before he turned his attention back to the laptop.

"So…what? Do you expect me and Kyd to go all around the world, talk to every good and bad guy, and convince them we need to work together to stop an attack against the whole world?"

"No." Fixit stated immediately, "That would be foolish. There is no time to take on such a task and I know too little about each of the princes to be able to anticipate what might happen should you or Kyd encounter one of their forces alone. I know enough about the prince who bestowed on me my original body to know that would not be a beneficial venture."

"Speaking of which, why exactly did this prince who is now allied in an effort to bring down this whole planet give you a body in the first place?"

There was silence on Fixit's part at that for a few seconds before:

"That was a long time ago, back when I believed the prince to have been a different natured creature, and it matters not now. You should be grateful that my programming allows us the information we have now."

Red-X and I shared another look, this one of suspicion, but decided to press onward.

"So what is it exactly that you want us to do?" Red-X questioned.

"Two things." Fixit spoke. "One of which involves returning me to my home. The other involves returning See-More his original state."

I looked incredulously at the glowing screen. See-More back to original See-More? He could hardly walk as it is, he couldn't even see, and Fixit wanted him ready to fight in a war for Earth? Not if Red-X and I had anything to say about-.

"I think that's a good idea." Red-X stated, earning a particularly furious glance from me, to which the thief quickly held up his hands in defense, "Now here me out scary eyes. I know you got a soft spot for your little buddy but I don't think you've been seeing what I've been seeing. The only reason he's still in a wheelchair is because he can't see, I've walked in on him doing push-ups, sit-ups, all kinds of ups, the kid is in better shape than I've ever seen him. He definitely still has that fighting spirit he had at Tamaran, the only thing holding him back is his eyes."

My glare didn't soften as he spoke, that one thing was a really big thing. No matter how in shape or how high spirited, blind was blind. Only crazy martial arts masters can fight blind, and See-More wasn't a crazy martial arts master. See-More won't be fighting. I refolded my arms in emphasis.

"Oh c'mon Kyd, I know you and Jinx have been talking about trying to repair his eye thing. If he gets that fixed than he's golden!"

I shook my head again. It didn't need to be fixed; it needed to be totally replaced. They never had time to scavenge what pieces were left after Blackfire completely destroyed it. If See-More was going to be able to see again he was going to need an entire new one built, and who knew how long that would take. No, my mind was set, See-More wouldn't be fighting, I don't care what Red-X or Fixit say and I will stop them if I had to, I would even-.

"Hey, don't I get a say in all this?" A timid yet cheerful voice asked from behind us. I spun around to see none other than See-More leaning against the side of the door, his head turned in our direction, a meek smile forming underneath the bandages.

"Whoops, really should have closed that door Kyd, you know, privacy and all that." Red-X commented, and I could clearly picture a smug grin underneath that mask.

I shot him a dirty look before running over to help See-More. See-More jumped a little as my hand found his arm but quickly thanked me as he placed a hand on my shoulder and I led him further into the room.

"Hello, See-More." Fixit greeted as we both stepped before the screen, See-More's grin widened at the sound of his voice.

"Hey there Fixit! From what I've been hearin' it sounds like you guys could use some help."

"You heard correct." Fixit responded. I tensed up at that.

"It's cool man, really." See-More stated, patting the shoulder he had been using as guidance and giving me a smile, "What Red-X said is right man, I can walk, run, swim, or whatever just fine and about my eye…I know we don't have any of the parts from the one Blackfire broke, but you know, I kinda always expected somethin' might happen to it one day, you know, considerin' the sorta stuff we do, so I had been working on a spare, with Gizmo's help of course. Before the whole deal with the Brotherhood it was actually almost done, just needed to be tweaked a little more before it would be aligned with my nerves and all that. We'd probably need Gizmo's help for that part but I'm sure if we ask nicely he'd be up for it. Help get the gang back together and all that right?"

While I wasn't too sure about the whole Gizmo and getting the gang back together idea getting See-More's spare eye would be a step in the right direction. And Jinx and I _had_ been planning on trying to restore See-More's vision, just didn't know exactly how, and now this seemed like the best opportunity. Though I still wasn't sure about See-More fighting… I still had painful memories of having to see See-More almost die before me…and then to see him literally dead before me. I wasn't exactly rushing to get him put in harm's way again.

"Kyd…" See-More spoke in a low voice, more than likely noticing my extended stillness, "I know your probably worried but don't be man, you can't expect me to let you and Red-X save the world on yall's own while I just sit around in some fancy mansion place. We're still a team man, and teams work together right?! And besides if some scary super powerful Tamaranian princess couldn't kill me what-!"

I placed my good hand over his mouth, not wanting to hear more of that sentence. Nothing ever good happened when you jinx yourself like that. But See-More was right. If I was in his position I wouldn't want to have him fight without me. And also knowing him he would do whatever it takes to get his spare eye back and fight, with or without me. So, knowing all that, I placed a confirming hand on his shoulder and nodded.

"Looks like we got poppa bat's approval." Red-X declared, earning an ecstatic grin from See-More.

"Awesome! Thanks Kyd! I promise you won't regre-!"

I placed a hand over his mouth again. Nothing good ever came from saying things like that either. Chuckling See-More removed my hand from his mouth.

"Okay okay man I gotcha," His sightless head then did a look around a room, one of those muscle movements that he never really got over, "Is Jinx here? Shouldn't we get her in on the plan as well?"

"Nope."

"No."

Red-X's and Fixit's refusals came almost immediately and almost in unison. See-More's cheerful smile vanished almost instantly.

"What? Why not? She's part of the team too!"

"Not any team I'm part of." Red-X stated, arms crossed.

"Jinx cannot be fully trusted with this information." Fixit clarified, "Regardless of your personal feelings I have it in my memory that Jinx is a defector, she betrayed her former comrades to the Titans and even joined the Titans for a period following the imprisonment of the majority of the Titan villains, even having a romantic relationship with the Honorary Titan known as Kid Flash."

"Well there goes any hope of breakfast." Red-X commented, feigning disgust. The frown was much more noticeable on See-More's face now.

"She was just confused on who she was!" See-More argued, though old pain still showed clearly on his face, "I admit I was…mad at her too, but she came through in the end right? Without her we probably would have never made it out of that palace, without her you might not even be alive right now Red!"

Red-X huffed, "I've been through worse." Though as he said that he unconsciously tugged on a loose bandage around his hand.

"I am sorry See-More but Jinx is simply too much of an unstable variable for this plan. I cannot risk the survival of this planet on the sake of one boy's defense of his previous leader. Jinx must remain oblivious to these events and of this plan." Fixit stated in that extremely robotic voice, but even in that I could sense a tone of finality.

"But this is the whole world we're talkin' about right?" See-More continued, oblivious to Fixit's tone, "What if Jinx get's in danger or gets hurt or…whatever because she doesn't know what's going on? We owe her our lives man; we can't just treat her like-."

"I will give you two options See-More." Fixit interrupted, "Either you fight with us or we fight without you. The list of those who I can trust with this plan is small, and if you decide I can't trust you than that will only lower the already unlikely success rate of saving the world you, and Jinx, live in. So make your choice See-More, just know that if you choose not to join us, this world, and all those you've come to love and hold dear, will fall."

See-More's breathing seemed to catch in his throat and I quickly tightened my grip on his shoulder. More or less I trusted Jinx just as much as he did. Even though I personally witnessed her betrayal and paid the price because of it I also would more than likely still be locked away in some Tamaranian prison or even dead if it wasn't for Jinx's rather forceful intrusion into that dungeon. So I wouldn't blame him, whoever he chose to side with.

I knew See-More wouldn't get all that from just a simple hand on his shoulder but my presence did at least seem to calm him down as he began to breathe again with a deep, steady sigh.

"I'm with you guys." See-More said firmly, though his mouth refrained from its usual form of a smile.

"Alright, now that's what I like to hear." Red-X spoke up, clapping See-More on the back, causing the young teen to jump slightly, "Once we get your eye fixed up there won't be anywhere we can't break into!"

"We will proceed with the plan one step at a time." Fixit stated, his constant emotionless voice killing any excitement in the room, "And the first step has two parts, so it shall involve two persons. As I stated before we must return See-More to his original state, which as of now involves retrieving the eye device from the H.I.V.E F.I.V.E base as well as retrieve the companion known as Gizmo. Although that part of the plan is optional as I wish to limit the amount of unknown variables and if I can transfer to a more advanced capacitor then I should be able to perform the surgical operation of uniting See-More with the biotic eye myself."

"Speaking of that part…" Red-X butted in, "How exactly are you going to 'transfer to a more advanced capacitor' as you so helpfully put it?"

"That part is unnecessary to explain, it is a complicated and lengthy process and we do not have time to waste on explanations. I simply must be taken to my original home within Jump City's disposal containment facility."

"What? You mean the dump?" Red-X asked, skeptical.

"Yes."

"Whoa…you lived in a dump, Fixit?" See-More questioned, though it was obvious that he, as well as Red-X, were now stifling laughter.

"Yes." Fixit repeated, "Before Blackfire provided me with a way to blend in with human society it was the only place I could live in peace without ridicule or disgust."

"Wow Fixit…" Red-X breathed, "That really…_stinks_!"

He and See-More than busted out in fits of hushed laughter that only died down after Red-X let out a rather loud hiss of pain and gripped his midsection.

"That did not help out my ribs." Red-X breathed as he remained hunched over in pain, but quickly stood up straight again, hand sill on his side, "But definitely worth it."

"Oh man, you alright Red?" See-More asked, looking in Red-X's general direction.

I had to admit I was concerned too. It was easy to forget, especially in this poor lighting and Red-X's generally unchanged attitude, that the thief was seriously injured. He still refused to talk to either Jinx or myself about the other night when he came stumbling into the mansion covered in serious cuts and bruises. When Jinx and I patched him up it wasn't difficult to notice a lot more, old scars, which coated his skin and were interlocked with the new bleeding cuts. I think Red-X revealed more about himself than he wished us to know that night, which showed in his often overly aggressive refusal to answer any of Jinx's questions. I'm sure that he is at least grateful that I was unable to question him myself, despite my often intense desire to do so.

"Yeah I'm fine kid, just one of the few downsides to being the best thief around." Red-X replied casually, "Not that you would know of course."

"That's low man! Just wait till I get my new eye, then you'll see!" See-More retorted, smile already back on his face.

I was still a little miffed that Red-X wouldn't even tell See-More how badly injured he was, or rather how he was blatantly taking advantage of how he couldn't see, or how I couldn't speak, or how Fixit couldn't care.

"If we are ready to move on." Fixit broke in, "I have finished up with all necessary calculations. The plan to stop the invasion of earth will be a five part one. You all know the first part and I shall relay the next part as we achieve the previous, pending on any changes that may occur due to unforeseeable variables."

"Just five parts huh." Red-X commented.

"Sweet! That doesn't sound too complicated!" See-More exclaimed, grinning widely.

"It is." Fixit interjected immediately. Earning groans from all of us.

"As stated previously time is not in our favor." Fixit continued, completely ignoring our groans, "We must launch the first part of this plan now."

"Wait wait, now as in the four in the morning now?" Red-X asked.

"Yes, if we use our time efficiently we should be completed with both parts in the first phase of the plan within twenty-four hours, and then we may proceed directly on to the second phase."

"Er…the only reason I'm awake right now is cause I wanted a glass of water…I'm still pretty beat Fixit…" See-More pointed out meekly.

I nodded despite Red-X being the only one who would see it. The late night sessions with Raven were starting to catch up with me. If it weren't for the recent shock of a potential invasion of earth I would have long since passed out.

"I do not understand. You are beat? You have been assaulted recently?"

"No beat as in tired," Red-X explained, rubbing a hand over his masked face for emphasis, "Did you forget that people need sleep in order to function?"

"Yes."

"Well we do alright!" Red-X continued, sighing hopelessly, "Now if you'll excuse me I'm very tired and suddenly cranky so I'm going back to bed."

"Very well," Fixit stated quickly, "We shall all meet back in this room as soon as night falls once more, so don't forge-."

Fixit was cut off however when Red-X decided to close the laptop.

"Duly noted." Red-X spoke with a yawn before making his way out of the room, "Night guys."

"Hey uh…would someone mind walkin' me back to my room…I managed to find you guys the first time by followin' your voices…but now I'm a little confused about where I am…"

"I'm sure poppa bat's got you." Red-X called back, having already stepped out of the room.

I glared at his departing figure before replacing my good hand on See-More's shoulder. My old comrade turned his head in my direction and flashed me a smile.

"Thanks man!"

I patted him gently on the shoulder before beginning to lead him out. Admittedly I was worried about tonight. I was supposed to be meeting Raven again, would she freak if I didn't show up? Well, it wasn't like I had a choice, and this would be a first offense, I'm sure she'd get over it.

With that somewhat comforting thought I led See-More out of the room and, closing the door behind me, I led us down the hall and in the direction of his room.

**xxxxx**

The figure on the other end of the hallway peered around the corner and watched as Kyd Wykkyd and See-More disappeared around the corner at the opposite end of the hallway. Even given how fast he was he almost got caught when Red-X suddenly appeared from that room.

Curiosity burned him to sneak in and figure out who they were talking too. It sounded like one of those bad text-to-speech programs he had on his computer. But for all he knew the entire room was booby-trapped, maybe even well enough to catch someone like him. And besides he had already gotten the names and all the information he could.

An invasion of earth. That's a pretty hot topic. Chances were Flash and the rest of the Justice League were already in on what's going on and it was a little late to be checking in with people anyways.

Though he did owe Cyborg the information, after all the Titan was keeping quiet about his continued relationship with the off-again on-again H.I.V.E F.I.V.E leader. He thought about trying to explain his circumstances to the half-metal guy but he didn't really understand it himself. Oh well.

The figure walked over and picked up the orange that was left discarded on the ground and with a few bites from the orange and a shrug of indifference Kid Flash disappeared from the hallway in a flash of yellow and red.

**XXXXXXX**

Robin finally let out a breath of ease as soon as he felt the apartment door close behind him. Eyes remained closed he fumbled around with the lock until he heard the even more comforting click as he finally managed to turn it sideways.

With a slight groan he let himself sink down to the floor, sliding along the door as he did. His body was sore all over, it felt as though his entire body was just one big muscle that he worked too hard. He knew he was hungry, he knew he smelled pretty foul, but food and a shower would have to wait. The overbearing feeling of sleep was quickly closing in on him; it was only a matter of a few seconds before it fully had control-

A faint clinking of china then rang in his ears just then. All at once any feeling of being tired or worn out left his brain completely. He only had to open his eyes to see that the light in the kitchen was on, and that someone's shadow was moving around rather quickly back and forth along the floor. Though he still rose with effort Robin quickly got to his feet and sprinted the few steps needed to make it from the front door to the kitchen.

"Whoever you are, you picked the wrong time to try and steal from me!" Robin declared as he burst through the entrance into the kitchen.

"Ah, Master Grayson, you are home at last." An oddly formal and calm voice greeted in response.

Robin stood frozen in the doorway. A dumbfounded expression on his face as he stared at the rather old looking gentleman dressed in a nice suit and holding a tray of what looked like a kettle of tea and a cup.

"Alfred!?"

"I am most pleased to see that you have not forgotten me after all this time." Alfred returned, bowing with tray still in hand, before rising once more and motioning with his free hand to the small kitchen table that sat between them, "Won't you have a seat? I took the liberty of making you some tea. Though I am afraid you seem to lack any of the usual you and Master Wayne normally enjoy so I had to make do with what was available. I do hope that is alright with you."

"Alfred…what are you doing here?" Robin asked, finally finding words to say as he took a few steps into the kitchen before pausing and leering his masked eyes, "Did he-."

"My visit has nothing to do with Master Wayne, I assure you." Alfred replied, "I am here on my own account, now, may I pour you some tea?"

"So he doesn't have anything to say to me? He doesn't care about what's happened, what's happened to me? What's happened to my team!?" Robin asked in a heated voice.

Alfred let out a small defeated sigh before placing the tray on the table and returned his somber gaze back to Robin. "Master Wayne does care-."

"Alfred, don't," Robin interrupted before taking a breath and unclenched and clenched his hands again, "He hasn't spoken to me in over four months. He never said one word on my behalf when I was forbidden to lead my team any longer. He never even looked at me Alfred."

"Well what do you expect Master Grayson?" Alfred immediately replied his tone slightly hotter and catching Robin off guard, "You did not listen to his advice, stole his ship, flew to an alien world, and most importantly- almost got yourself killed. After everything he taught you, after all he gave you, we…he just expected better of you."

Robin's head lowered and remained that way. It was not often in his life that Alfred ever sounded that mad, and that was only when he had done something really, really bad. Like when he had accidentally broken one of Bruce's expensive vases, or when he lost Bruce's utility belt.

"But this is different." Robin spoke out loud.

"Excuse me?" Alfred asked, his turn to be taken aback by how in pain the boy wonder sounded.

"This wasn't just some little kids mistake Alfred." Robin clarified, looking up and right into Alfred's eyes, "I did what I had to do and the only thing I regret was not being strong enough to finish it."

"Master Grayson…" Alfred started, and Robin saw that his old butler's eyes were now taking into account more than just Robin's face. They were seeing his tattered and torn clothing, his battered and bruised body, and the bright purple blood looking substance smeared on his skin and clothing, "Where have you been just now?"

Robin stared into the eyes of his former butler for a second or two longer before turning around and walking until he was just outside of the kitchen.

"I am not thirsty Alfred; if your reason for coming here was to make me tea then I believe our business is concluded."

"Master Wayne isn't silent with you because he does not care, Master Grayson." Alfred reiterated, "Criminals have gone missing, bad ones, the Joker, the Penguin, and many more of Gotham's most wanted have disappeared from the streets, from their own cells, with absolutely no trace of where they could have gone."

Robin was silent and unmoving for a moment before saying: "Maybe they finally got tired of dealing with Batman and headed for greener pastures."

"That is what Master Wayne thought as well. But as I said this is happening with _every_ criminal associated with the Batman, and this is not just happening in Gotham. Many of the Justice League's other major villains have been turning up missing as well. Master Grayson, even the Titan's own criminals have been disappearing."

Robin kept his back to Alfred as he remained silent for an even longer period of time. Finally his head rose and he began to walk in the direction of his bedroom.

"Master Grayson?"

"I will look into this Alfred, thank you for bringing it to my attention." Robin responded hand on his bedroom door, "You may see yourself out now."

"I did not tell you all this because I want you to go running off and be the hero again." Alfred stated firmly, stepping quickly out of the kitchen, "Something is happening, something big; the Justice League does not need you stirring up any more trouble than there already is. Though it seems you do not heed _their_ suggestions either."

Robin's hand remained on the doorknob.

"He worries about you Dick." Alfred continued true concern in his voice now, "I worry about you. If your involved in something that you are afraid you cannot handle, if you…just please, don't think you are alone-."

"Alone?" Robin interrupted, and his head turned to face Alfred, and the older man finally saw what the boy wonder was truly feeling. "I wasn't alone until Starfire was stolen away from me."

Hatred.

And with that Robin swung open the door and quickly slammed it shut behind him. Alfred flinched at the noise. A part of him wanted to follow him into that room and give him a stern talking to. Master Wayne never acted so irrationally, so self destructively. But then again, he had never been in love either.

Alfred let out a small sigh before heading back into the kitchen to collect the china. He had done all that he could do. All that was left was to head back to the mansion and tell his master to stop being such a coward and just go talk to the boy himself.

**xxxxx**

Robin stood right behind the door he had slammed for almost a solid minute. Part of him wanted to go back and apologize for speaking that way to Alfred. Just seeing his old butler had forced out all that he had been thinking of and feeling for so long and tried to ignore. Still that was no excuse for him to have acted the way he did, Alfred did not deserve to be the punching back for his anger and frustrations.

A part of Robin wanted to go back and make things right with his old butler. But another, much larger, part wanted something different.

And without further thoughts or hesitation Robin reached into his utility belt and felt his way to the pouch that held the thing. As soon as Robin found the right one and reached into it, as soon as his fingers traced over the hard metallic surface he instantly thought of back just a few hours ago.

Back to when he fought that horrible thing in the darkness. It had underestimated him. It thought he couldn't fight in the darkness as well as it could. Robin had to owe it to that strange blind snake that trained him in the cave, he was sur- no, positive that he would have died otherwise.

That was something else that had the boy wonder on edge. He killed. Well more accidentally than on purpose, though it was a kill or be killed situation. Robin knew it wanted him dead, not that other people and things in the past didn't, but this thing was adamant about it, it seemed to _crave _his death.

It was just one blind strike. Robin had his birdarang out, having almost used up his entire offensive weaponry in vain against the thing. He went to swing it back in preparation to throw it at it he believed to be in front of him, only to feel it sink into something warm and wet behind him. It had lodged itself directly in it's eye.

Pulling out the metallic object from his pouch Robin saw that it was a usb device of some sort. This only confused him more. Was this really the clue the thing talked about?

It never spoke, never said one word, the entire time they had fought. And in that pitch black they had fought for a long time, longer than Robin ever remembered fighting anyone before. He had been using the last of his strength when his weapon found its way into the creature's eye.

It didn't scream though, even if the pain should have been immense. Robin simply felt it slide off his weapon before slumping silently to the ground, never to move again. It was then Robin heard a voice for the first time in what felt like months. Though strangely it sounded like a voice inside his head.

Staring at the usb in his hand Robin could remember what it said, word for word.

_So you kill me, the sixth of my kind_

_But did you kill the five?_

_For if not, you should bear this in mind,_

_Not much longer will you remain alive._

**XXXXXX**

_**To Be Continued…**_

_**XXXXXXX**_


	7. Seven Steps Closer

**The Cursed One**

**Chapter 7:**

**Seven Steps Closer**

**XXXXXX**

Cyborg kept his face in his hands as he sat at the table. He listened to his breathing, distracted momentarily from his thoughts. Deep and even. From his position he could see the light on his communicator located on his wrist. It was flashing on and off, indicating that it was 4:20 in the morning and that he was dangerously low on power. He would have to sleep and recharge soon, whether he wanted to or not.

And he really didn't want to.

"Uh…Cyborg?" A meek voice called out.

Cyborg raised his head to see Beastboy sitting across from him at the very small kitchen table, looking at him worriedly. Almost instantly the robotic Titan's eyes moved to the motionless form of Jericho, his mechanical eye quick to remind him that the young man had no pulse. Immediately Cyborg's head felt ten times heavier again.

"How could this happen?" He asked out loud, expecting no reply.

"I told you dude, I just-!"

"You just showed up and found him there, I know Beastboy, you told me like half a minute ago!"Cyborg interrupted.

"Okay okay! I'm sorry…" The green Titan quickly said, slumping slightly in his seat as he looked back at Jericho as well. "I'm sorry."

"Look, forget about it, I've just been under a lot of stress," Cyborg said as he stood up, he had been sitting and standing repeatedly for the last few minutes but he could not keep still, "what with Starfire gone, the team split up, the tower destroyed, and now…this."

Cyborg chose not to look back at Jericho this time; he didn't want to see what his mechanical eye wanted to show him.

"I know it sucks I brought him here dude, I know, I just…I didn't know where else to go…"

"The hospital?"

"He was already dead…"

"They would still contact family-."

"He didn't have any family."

"Oh?" Cyborg asked, curious now. Beastboy had that familiar face as if he had said too much, "And how do you know that?"

"I uh looked up his file…before I went to look for him…in case he might've moved or something…"

"I don't remember their being any info about his family on his file." Cyborg pointed out, folding his arms and giving Beastboy a stern look. A look that his friend avoided completely.

"Did you check recently dude? Those things update all the time…"

"No I haven't, in case you haven't noticed our computers aren't really in checkable condition right now."

Beastboy shrugged, still avoiding looking at him directly, "Well they're there. Honest."

"Weird," Cyborg pondered, rubbing his metallic chin as he looked away from Beastboy to peer at some random corner, "He never really was the talkative type and last time I checked he had virtually no interest in joining the Titans, why would he give up personal information like that?"

"I don't know," Beastboy answered, Cyborg looked back at him to see his green eyes were now focused on the floor, "Maybe the Justice League caught up with him and made him tell them when they were rounding up all the Titans."

That made Cyborg hesitate. It wasn't his intention to remind his buddy about getting suspended from being a hero, but it looked as if that's where discussion was heading. Although he knew Beastboy was hiding something from here he decided it was best to not push on the subject for now.

"Well anyways now that he's here we might as well bring him to a hospital around here."

Beastboy looked up from the floor then, "Why? I said he's already-."

"Dead. I know BB, but we still need to make preparations for…well, sending him off."

Beastboy still looked like he wanted to say something but instead he closed his mouth and looked back at the unmoving Jericho.

"Yeah, I guess so."

The two remained in silence for another second or so before a rather loud beeping noise startled them both, even causing Beastboy to jump from his chair.

"Relax man it's just me," Cyborg spoke after realizing it himself. He then pressed a finger against the screen, silencing the noise.

"You okay dude?" Beastboy asked, genuinely sounding worried.

"Yeah I'm fine; just my body telling me I overused it today."

"Overused it?" the green teen repeated as if it was a foreign expression, "I've never heard you ever make that noise before!"

"Well normally I take good care of my body…unlike some people," Cyborg replied before giving Beastboy a look, to which the latter stuck out his tongue, "And while my recharge station never got severely damaged it isn't using nearly as much power as it did when the tower was up and running. I can only get so much each night."

"And it's already pretty late…" Beastboy infirmed, checking the glowing clock on the nearby microwave, "Are you gonna be alright tomorrow?"

"I should be, as long as I don't do much besides getting Jericho to the hospital."

"We can't do that now?"

Cyborg shook his head sadly. "Not unless you wanna fly him there yourself, I got maybe ten minutes left before my body completely shuts down."

"No way dude! You have no idea how much I've already flown today," Beastboy then appeared to try to raise his arms but only seemed capable of moving his shoulders up and down, "See, I can't even move them anymore!"

"Then it looks like its tomorrow then." Cyborg stated before moving over to the body on the couch. With a steadying sigh he pulled a spare blanket from atop the couch and carefully wrapped it around Jericho. For once he was glad he couldn't feel the cold and stiffness of the body.

"Dude…what are you doing?" Beastboy asked from behind him.

"Making sure he doesn't freeze, its cold out."

"But he's-."

"I _know_ what he is BB I just…I just wanna do this."

Beastboy didn't say any more as he watched Cyborg try and make Jericho's body more comfortable. The green Titan silently wondered if that was actually helping the real Jericho somewhere, if it even made a difference. He wondered if coming to Cyborg was the best idea. He knew he couldn't handle something like this on his own; he had to go to someone with this. But now what?

Suppose Jericho came back later and needed his body. Beastboy couldn't just let it get cremated or buried in the ground for worms or grubs to make a home in. But could he tell Cy about what really happened? Could he trust him not to go rushing over to the Justice League to hunt down the boy in the dragon costume?

He had known Cyborg for years now. He was his best friend. But still he didn't know what he should do; he had never been in a situation like this. Should he break Jericho's promise and risk having him captured? He was afraid of what Jericho might do if it came to that; the guy was desperate for escape and Beastboy didn't want anyone to get hurt over this. Jericho just wanted to be left alone and while the Titan couldn't really understand that, he certainly respected it.

But then if he said nothing…and Cyborg takes Jericho's body…what then?

"Yo BB, you alright?" Cyborg asked his voice startling Beastboy slightly. "You're being strangely quiet."

Beastboy looked over to his friend to see that Cyborg had already finished wrapping Jericho in the blanket and was now looking at his green friend quizzically, if not suspiciously. To cover his actions Beastboy let out a loud yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah dude I'm fine, just tired is all."

"Well the couch is already taken…and there's only one bed and you're _not_ sleeping with me."

"Gross! Like I'd want to! Just toss me a pillow or something I don't have to take up much room."

Beastboy then morphed instantly into a small, poodle-like dog that began panting and wagging its tail excitedly as it looked up at the metal teen.

"Dude, if you're gonna change into a dog at least be a manlier one." Cyborg commented as he picked up one of the larger cushions from the couch.

In response the little green dog growled, to which Cyborg responded by throwing the cushion at it which easily crushed the tiny dog underneath.

"G'night BB." Cyborg said with a smirk as he began his short walk to the attached bedroom.

"Hey Cy, not cool!" BB called though Cyborg merely waved without looking back before letting the bedroom door close behind him as soon as he stepped in.

Glancing at his wrist communicator Cyborg noticed he only had a couple minutes before complete shutdown. He felt he really could use a complete shutdown right now. With everything that was going on and now they had a dead Titan on their hands.

Cyborg knew he should me more freaked out by that but he honestly just didn't have enough energy to be. He had to tackle one thing at a time, first sleep, then crazy conspiracy that someone was out to kill all the Titans.

With a loud yawn the cybernetic teen made his way to the vertical table looking thing that was his bed. He knew what it was called but literally did not have enough brain functioning to think about it right then.

Beastboy was hiding something as well. That was obvious. The little grass stain never was good at lying, especially to one of his friends. While in this case it did worry Cyborg quite a lot that he'd be holding back on letting him know something that had to do with one of their own dying…Cyborg had to admit it was still good seeing him. It had been far too long since he had seen any of his friends.

Raven…Robin…Starfire…

A pang in his chest even now. Even while laying, seconds from shutdown , in his bed, he could still feel the intense ache knowing that one of his friends wasn't even on the same planet as him anymore…and for all he knew wasn't even alive anymore…

Cyborg's thoughts would have gone on forever in this way but his body finally had all it could take. And with thoughts of his friends still on his mind Cyborg shut down and began to recharge, while what human parts remained of him dreamt on.

**XXXXXX**

Starfire stood her ground as the giant Gordainian prince charged right at her. Fists clenched at her sides she resisted acting until he was right on top of her and sending two massive, bone armored fists her way. With quick reflexes the princess grabbed both his fists with her hands, being careful to avoid the random sharp bone that happened to be poking out.

The two remained in that position, both trying to overpower the other with brute strength. Starfire had tangled with strong foes before but this particular prince's strength was inhuman, even for someone of his size. As she attempted to hold her place she could feel her knees begin to buckle as the red giant only seemed to increase the pressure of his fists. Starfire kept her courage however, even in the face of this overwhelming creature, for that was the true secret of her race's strength, and with a deep breath the young princess felt her true self partly awaken once more.

With a surprising burst of strength Starfire's fingers clamped down on the massive red hands with an iron grip and using all the strength of her body the Tamaranian threw the Gordainian prince to the side, catching him off guard and sending him sliding against the ground, taking out quite a few of the garden's decorations and vegetation in the process.

Starfire felt a pang of guilt for the gardeners but let the feeling slide as she noticed Yorgaldin already starting to rise from the pile of garden debris. She began to run at him, attempting to close the distance between them as quickly as possible. The great red alien swiped a massive arm at her to try and stop her approach though Starfire easily ducked the wide blow, only to come in contact with a bone-armored foot sent into her chest.

She had just enough time to grip the foot with her hands though the blow still had her own feet digging back against the cobbled ground, but again the Tamaranian held her ground. She could feel her opponent attempt to pull his leg free, but she would not give him that chance. Quickly tucking the leg against her side and with another large burst of strength Starfire once again managed to heave the massive alien into the air where he once again flailed helplessly before crashing back into the ground.

The Titan's breathing was starting to grow heavier by that point. Even though she had only thrown him twice it had taken all of her strength, perhaps even more, to do so. And again the prince was already rising, seemingly unfazed by her throws, as well as her numerous punches and kicks she had dealt him earlier. Only this time as he rose, instead of preparing to attack her, he began to laugh.

"Koriand'r great fighter!" Prince Yorgaldin exclaimed, pumping two fists in the air for emphasis, "Yorg never weak, but now…feel weak!"

Starfire needed to take several more deep breaths before she could speak but when she did she spoke with a smile.

"You should not feel weak, Prince Yorgaldin, I have fought many a challenging foe before but very few have been as tough as you."

Yorgaldin beamed widely at the praise, his unnaturally sharp teeth still came as an initial surprise to her, but she was quickly getting used to it.

The prince and princess then approached each other before bowing respectably when they were near enough. Though after the formal ending of their fight Yorgaldin punched her playfully in the shoulder before sitting down before Starfire, looking up at her with sudden wonder.

"Koriand'r say fought many before. Before is Earth before?"

Starfire glanced around them, taking note of the purple armored Tamaranian guards that were posted on the ramparts above and around them and at the guards positioned at the doors leading back into the palace. While none of them had clearly visible faces they didn't seem to be intently focused on her and Yorgaldin.

"Yes, on Earth I was a Titan, a person who fought for good," Starfire answered, turning back to the sitting prince before sitting down herself, "I fought many people who wished harm against others."

"People hurt people?" the prince asked, genuinely curious. Starfire nodded.

"Few Gordainians. Fight together. Survive together, hurt food, not family."

"Earth has a…big family," Starfire spoke, eyes focusing on the ground they sat on, "Sometimes people have disagreements and sometimes they don't always work out nicely…"

"Koriand'r sad."

Starfire looked back up at the prince then and she could easily tell through all those bones that he was looking at her with intense concern.

"If sad, don't talk Earth." He continued; his voice the same gentle tone.

And suddenly Starfire wanted to cry again, but she forced herself not to as she looked away and took in a deep, steadying breath.

"It's fine Prince Yorgaldin, really, I am most glad that I can speak about Earth to you…it's been so long since I've been home…I miss it."

"Koriand'r miss Earth?" the prince asked, sounding confused now. "Koriand'r home now." This left Starfire confused.

"I am not home." Starfire said icily, "Tamaran has not been my home for many years. Has…_he_ not told you? I am a prisoner here and a slave. If I could fly I would do everything in my power to return to Earth!"

"Koriand'r can't fly?" Prince Yorgaldin then asked and it seemed to Starfire that he was missing the important questions, though it could be that he just could not understand her completely.

It was one of the rare moments she wished she had studied Gordainian language when she was younger. She knew for a fact he couldn't speak Tamaranian, it was well known that Yorgaldin's people were very unskilled with learning things that was not normally rooted in their culture, it was amazing to her that this particular Prince could speak any English at all.

"My people…we require certain feelings to perform certain functions, we must feel happy if we wish to fly." Starfire finally responded, unsure as to what else she could say.

"Koriand'r not happy." Yorgaldin said then.

Starfire flinched slightly when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Her mind immediately went to the thing in the cloak and immediately she was prepared to rip him to pieces. But when she looked around she only saw Yorgaldin, with a giant yet gentle red hand placed on her shoulder. She looked up into his scarlet, bone covered face and was taken aback by the sympathy she saw in those bright yellow eyes.

"Yes I am not happy, we have said this before." Starfire hotly said, breaking eye contact, sitting up and taking a step back from the prince, removing the hand he had on her shoulder.

"Yorg sad sometimes." Yorgaldin continued, standing up as well and seemingly unfazed by Starfire's distance as he closed the distance between them again and suddenly gripped the princess by both shoulders before lifting her up and walking to some nearby garden architecture and plants.

"What are you doing!?" The Titan exclaimed, fruitlessly trying to wriggle herself free, "Unhand me!" She thought for a moment to call for the guards but when she looked she could see them already flying towards the two.

"It fine it fine!" Yorgaldin insisted when he had reached a certain section of the garden and placing Starfire back down he turned back to the guards who already had spears pointing in his direction. Yorgaldin grinned and folded his massive arms. "Yorg hurt none, Yorg help!"

Starfire then noticed that he had turned his head in her direction and looking over to him as well she could see that he was grinning just as widely at her.

"Yorg show Starfire what Yorg does when sad."

Then in a motion surprisingly fast for someone of his size Yorgaldin spun back to the guards and, grabbing two spears in each of his massive hands, the Gordainian prince easily swung the four guards back behind him, sending them crashing into the various garden decorations.

Starfire and the two remaining guards looked stunned to say the least.

"Yorgaldin-?" Starfire started but the prince interrupted with a loud laugh of triumph before snapping the spears in his fists by clenching them before flashing the princess an encouraging smile.

"Yorg break things!"

Starfire felt her own smile then. Her first genuine one in months. She then turned to the two guards, smile still on her face as her fists began to glow bright green. The guards drew up their spears once again in response. Meanwhile the guards that had been thrown by Yorgaldin were beginning to regain their senses, but not before the great red prince was already descending upon them once again. Starfire began her own charge as well, she wouldn't let some Gordainian prince outdo her.

As her starbolts blew away the spears and her fist made contact with those horrible purple helmets she made a mental note to carefully explain to the thing in the robe that this was a simple misunderstanding between alien cultures.

**XXXXXX**

"See-More?"

The inquisitive and rather calm voice nonetheless startled the young teen from his peaceful state. He let out a loud yawn before he could stop himself.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we're you sleeping?" He heard Jinx ask him from somewhere close by, See-More turned his head in her direction so she could see the smile on his face.

"Nah, it's cool, I'm cool, I was just…starin' into space is all…" He lied, though it wasn't like he wanted to admit to her that he had fallen asleep in the middle of their conversation.

"I'm not boring you, am I See-More?" Jinx asked and while he could hear the chiding tone in her voice he was also certain that she was also asking seriously.

"No way! It's just kinda easy to lose focus on stuff when there's nothin' to look at."

"Or when you're brain dead." Jinx quickly added.

"Hey what do you mean? We made like the same grades back at the H.I.V.E Academy!"

"Yeah but _you _had to study to make your grade, I hardly even listened to the lectures."

"Yeah well, not everyone can seduce their teachers with good looks!"

"Good looks? Please. You don't need looks when you can destroy a classroom with just a flick of your wrist."

"Or when your best friends are a giant animal man and a guy who can make a weapon out of school supplies!"

Jinx didn't reply immediately to that but before See-More could say anything more she let out a small, almost unheard, sigh.

"The sunset looks really nice." She replied instead, causing See-More to smile slightly.

"Oh yeah? Guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"See-More…I'm sorry, I just happened to notice it and-."

"Nah it's cool, really," See-More interrupted, immediately regretting saying that, "I can still enjoy stuff like this, sun on my face, the wind in my ears, I never really noticed things that I couldn't just see for myself. In a way it's almost…a good thing that I get to be blind again…I forgot about all the cool stuff I liked when I was a kid and bein' blind was my only option…y'know?"

"I understand." Jinx said somewhat quietly, though See-More caught the hint of a smile in her voice and he felt a lot better.

Just then a warm, soft, feeling fell upon See-More's hands that were currently resting in his lap. The young thief jumped slightly at the sudden and unexpected feeling but he felt the same sensation fall on his shoulder, holding him still.

"See-More." He heard Jinx's voice, much closer to him now.

Close enough that he could more easily smell the scent of roses on her. He had been smelling that smell a lot since they made residence in Red-X's mansion, See-More assumed it must be her shampoo or something because she always came out in the morning smelling strongly of roses and he never remembered her smelling that way at the Academy or back at their base. It was a very good smell, it fit her perfectly. Already See-More felt overwhelmed by it, his face getting several degrees warmer, still he managed to get out a hushed:

"Jinx?"

"Kyd Wykkyd and I have been talking…" Jinx continued, not moving away from See-More nor removing her hands from him, "We've been talking about trying to get your sight back."

See-More's head cleared slightly at that.

"I don't think Kyd wants me to talk to you about this, since as of yet we don't have many ideas on how to do that, but I think it's important that you know since, well, this is basically all about you. It feels wrong to keep something like this from you. And maybe you might even have some ideas on how we could do it, like maybe a way to make you a new eye."

"It's funny that you mention that." See-More spoke, "You see Kyd and Red were talking last night and I think they planned on getting the spare I keep back at our old base, with a good mechanic I think the spare could be fitted and work just like my old one. It may not have as many cool features as my old one but I'd be able to see, and new stuff could always be added to it later, and-."

"Kyd and Red-X are going back to the H.I.V.E base to get your eye?" Jinx interrupted, hands removing themselves from him, "When?"

See-More took in a deep breath; he had to be careful here.

"Er, tonight, actually, but it's cool, it's Kyd and Red, they won't be caught by Mammoth and the other guys…I know that's what you're probably worried about…"

"I'm not worried about Kyd Wykkyd and Red-X being caught by them, Kyd is their friend and Red-X fits right in with those idiots. I'm worried that they are going to catch me."

"You're worried…about that?" See-More asked, a little taken aback.

"Yes!" Jinx exasperated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm…scared that they haven't forgiven me…of what they would do if they saw me again…"

"Aw c'mon Jinx, they're still the same guys, they might be a little pissed but they wouldn't try to like…hurt you…"

"You are wrong See-More," Jinx responded with enough conviction to keep her fellow thief from immediately saying anything, "I hurt you all more than…more than I can ever make up for. I hurt you enough to attack me back at that restaurant."

"You…knew that was me?"

See-More never brought up that particular instant, hoping that somehow Jinx would forget about it, though it was obvious she had far from done so.

"Yes. See-More, you were the closest friend I had back in those days; you looked out from me when the others didn't. If you hated me that much…just think of what Mammoth…Gizmo…just think of how much they…"

"I never hated you!" See-More insisted, he wished very much that he could reach out and touch her now, but refrained. "I knew why you left the gang…you told me yourself…and thinkin' back, I wasn't even mad because you wanted to be a good guy…"

"You weren't?" Jinx asked, incredulous.

"No way! I was just mad because…"

In the darkness See-More could easily see them. Jinx and Kid Flash, eating together at that restaurant, fighting together against him. His annoying habit to leave Jinx flowers all the time, at the museum, in their base, on their dates…what kind of flowers were they anyway? Whatever they were they had a really strong smell, it took weeks, even with their rather messy living habits, to get the stink of those roses out of the….

A pit suddenly formed deep inside See-More.

"Jinx, what kind of shampoo have you been usin' since we've been here?" See-More then asked, trying to sound as natural as possible.

"Oh is it distracting you? Sorry, Red-X only had this green apple stuff, I've been meaning to get something not as potent, who knew someone like him wants to have such a strong smell, right?"

See-More heard a question in her tone but he was no longer listening to her. The words 'green apple' continued to dance around his head, consuming his thoughts, as the continuous smell of roses invaded his nose from the girl that sat beside him.

**XXXXXX**

Kid Flash watched them silently from his position far above, near the mansion. It was a rather long downhill walk to reach the lake that Jinx and her buddy were relaxing by and to him they were perhaps the sizes of very small mice.

Even if her buddy was blind Jinx didn't want him anywhere near her. She was worried the kid would be able to pick up Kid Flash's rather potent cologne. Not that it was entirely the hero's fault. It took some pretty heavy stuff to hide the stench he naturally produced with all the running. He never honestly worried about things like that before, until it got serious with Jinx.

He watched the two for only a few more moments before deciding to take off. In just a few seconds the mansion was long gone behind him and he was now standing before Jump City's dump.

Cyborg was still gone from the Titan's tower and Kid Flash honestly felt no desire to hunt the metal guy down. Answering to someone else was getting pretty old and he could handle some thief, no sweat.

Well…lot's of sweat, but he couldn't help that.

With a chuckle at his own bad joke Kid Flash sped into the dump in search of Red-X.

**XXXXXX**

I reappeared in the center of See-More's room, the chill from the darkness inside my cape still clinging to me. I always felt the cold sink deeper into the claw; I knew it enjoyed it far more than I did. I slowly clenched each clawed finger to make sure that I was still the one in control and while it resisted slightly I managed to clench the entire claw. It took a few extra hours of meditation but it seemed to have done wonders.

I was planning on getting in and out really quickly, I knew Fixit wanted me to try and get Gizmo in on this plan but I didn't want to start relying on our former cohorts. Jinx and See-More were different than the others; they didn't have a one-track mind. Even if Gizmo agreed to help I knew he would want something in return and he'd definitely try to get Mammoth and Billy in on it, and I could definitely do without those two.

I tried looking around for the spare eye that See-More said was somewhere in his room but instead my eyes fell on a rather long and slender mirror that was hung on his closet door. I could see my reflection in it, but it wasn't clear, the mirror obviously had a good layer of dust on it.

I took a step but hesitated right after. Did I really want to see? Do I want to know if coming here changed me at all? I took another step despite my thoughts, and then another. Soon enough I was standing in front of the mirror and wiping aside the dust with my gloved hand.

I could only see my face through the part of the mirror that I cleared. Bright red eyes stared back at me through a mess of snow white hair. I still felt really exposed despite the hair, I missed the hooded part of my cloak but there was really nothing I could do with only one pointy ear, the nub of the other still hidden beneath all the white locks.

A silent sigh of relief escaped me as I stepped away from the mirror. At least my face hadn't gotten any worse and while I wasn't about to do a full body search in the middle of my friend's room I was confident that teleporting here was still considered 'evil'. Because See-More and I were still evil.

With that uplifting thought I resumed my search for See-More's spare eye. It didn't take long to find in all honesty, See-More was never really the kind of person to hide something, even if it was important to him. He really was trusting to a fault. I found the spare eye underneath his dusty pillow. It looked just like a rather large and thick metallic green ring with two dials on the side. I guessed the eye part was holographic or something and only appeared when the eye was connected to him. I could only guess of course, I never had any sort of extensive conversation with him about his eye gadget thing. Everyone at H.I.V.E had their thing, See-More was his eye, and if it worked then it was good enough for me.

At least that's how things used to be. Now that I know…Now that I know that he can't see without it, that it was more than just a weapon, something he used to help him steal. And now that he was…is my friend. I only had questions and concerns swimming in my head as I held the device in my hands.

Not long ago See-More was just as expendable as the rest of the guys. Sure we may have worked well as a duo it didn't mean I respected him any more than the others. He appeared just as thick skulled and one-track minded as Mammoth or Gizmo or Billy. And now. Now I wouldn't even probably be alive and standing here without him.

A crazy feeling then came over me.

I wanted to see the guys. I missed them. I wanted to hear their voices, their jokes, their idiotic laughs. I didn't care if it caused problems later on down the road; I remember how desperate they looked that time a few weeks back when See-More and I ran into them in the city. How bad has it been for them since they were freed?

My conviction grew as I attached See-More's spare eye against one of the magnetic spots on my belt so I could free my hand up to reach for my cloak.

They probably needed help just as much as See-More needs help. A band of thieves is still a band after all. I might not consider them friends but I risked my life so that I might see them again. I might as well finally collect my reward.

I pulled the cape around me and was greeted by the cold darkness for a split instant before appearing in the kitchen, facing the room with the large T.V, hoping that I would have a good chance of finding them here.

I was not disappointed.

Garbage littered the entirety of the room. The smell hit me almost before I even appeared amongst it. Half-eaten pieces of food, empty wrappers, broken bottles, clothing, it all surrounded me and consumed me in its stench. I tried coughing but my body wanted to gag, I quickly covered my mouth and nose before escaping the kitchen and into the room with the couch and T.V as it was much less messy.

Though it only took a few steps the foul smell of the garbage immediately gave way to something very foreign to me. It was like a mixture of…burnt oranges and…lilacs. I could never in my life have imagined such a smell combination until it was assaulting me. I removed my hand from my face as it wasn't so much an intense smell as it was an utterly strange one.

Now that I was away from the horrible stench of the kitchen I returned my attention back to my surroundings. The first thing that caught my eye was that the T.V was on. Though it wasn't on any particular channel, it was just static. I guess the guys forgot to pay the cable, or just stopped bothering to, though why they would just leave it on was anyone's guess. I began to move around to the other side of the couch, in search of the remote, but instead I found something else.

It was Mammoth and Billy. Lying on their backs across the entire expanse of the couch, their feet facing each other. That fact in general didn't send the chills down my spine or the weakness in my legs. What did was how their hands were placed over their faces, like they were playing hide-and-seek and I had caught them counting.

I wished desperately that I could just call out to them, for some reason I didn't want to get anywhere near them. I forced myself to walk towards Billy though. I tried making my footsteps somewhat loud but he never budged. I stood right over him then, his hands still covering his face, I couldn't clap my hands because of the claw so I forced myself to tap him lightly on the shoulder. Still nothing.

My breathing was getting ragged then. My heart beat heavily inside my chest. I didn't want to remove his hands, I really didn't. I wasn't sure what I'd find beneath them but I was sure I didn't want to find out.

I almost did it. I almost grabbed my cloak and just left. I really wish I had.

Instead I gathered my senses and simply ripped away Billy's hands from his face.

There was no yelp of surprise. No southern talk of disapproval or agitation. There was just Billy's face, black liquid oozing from what once were his eyes, the same liquid leaking out his mouth that was still wide open with what looked like a mixture of shock and horror.

I screamed silently as I fell flat on my butt and backed away from him. The image of his face was burnt permanently in my mind; I couldn't un-see it no matter how tightly I closed my eyes. I could feel the claw beginning to twitch on its own but I couldn't begin to summon the willpower to control it on my own.

I had to get away. I had to get out of here. Whatever happened to them could happen to me. A poison or infection from all the garbage that must have been what happened.

I stood up slowly and looked back to see the kitchen.

That wasn't what happened.

What I saw instead were two dark and tall clouds of smoke that were…standing between me and the kitchen, and one of them held inside it a very scared Gizmo.

The empty cloud suddenly lunged forward at me. I instantly recognized that I would not have enough time to teleport. So instead I made a grab for my cloak before swinging it horizontally in front of me, hoping to slice the thing in half.

The good part was it did exactly that. The bad part was that it didn't stop it in the slightest.

Instead the severed top half of the dark cloud slammed into my face, but not with any sort of force. Instead I felt it enclose around my head and all oxygen was cut from me. I tried reaching back for my cloak just as I felt its lower half encompass my lower half, immediately afterwards I could feel my cloak being lifted away and out of my reach. With little other option and my lungs beginning to beg me for relief I reached up with my good hand to try and get some form of grip on the cloud, instead my hand went right through it like it wasn't there.

I felt my knees hit the ground without having any control over it. My body was quickly giving up, my lungs squeezed tighter and tighter inside me as my head felt light enough to simply float away. The darkness began to close in just as I felt a single, attention-grabbing, twitch.

In a last desperate attempt at freedom I reached up with the demon hand. In a mixture of extreme surprise and relief I felt it latch onto something within the dark cloud. The claw did the rest as it yanked the thing, pulling the cloud away from my head as it did, before tossing it against the wall. I took in a deep breath, and then a few more for good measure as my claw easily threw aside the other half of the cloud that had been holding onto my cloak. The lower half hit the wall near where the upper did and I noticed that it didn't make a sound although it had been pretty violently thrown against it. Instead the two dark clouds slowly slid down the wall before forming together on the ground. It then stood back up to its previously tall column.

The other cloud that still had Gizmo squirming inside it moved up closer and I immediately backed away, cloak back in my good hand behind me, the demon claw extended out in front of me. I really wished I could just run. I didn't get a good vibe at all from these clouds of smoke; I had no idea how to even hurt them, let alone get them to let Gizmo go.

"**Azeroth. Metrion, Zinthos!"**

Black energy suddenly encased the cloud that encased Gizmo before being torn apart and vanishing in mid-air. Gizmo immediately fell straight to the ground with an agonized groan.

The other cloud appeared to back up a bit though it didn't have much room against the wall and I noticed before it did that the wall was entirely encased in black energy. The energy fell down upon it like a shroud and just like its companion the dark cloud was torn apart and dissipated in the air.

"I was wondering why you decided to skip tonight's lesson." I heard Raven's monotone voice speak up before seeing her step out of the shadows and into the light illuminating from the TV.

She looked from me, to Gizmo, to the bodies of Billy and Mammoth still lying still on the couch. Her eyes and mouth widened significantly.

"….What happened here?"

I heard accusation in her voice but I didn't have time to try and argue about whose fault it was with her. Choosing to ignore her I rushed over to where Gizmo was, groaning and lying on the floor.

I knelt down beside him and turned his small body over in my hand, keeping my claw tucked behind my back so he couldn't see it. His eyes found me immediately, and I was taken aback by just how scared and watery they looked up close.

"They were lookin' for you." Gizmo said, "They…Billy and Mammoth, tried to fight em…I tried to run but they…"

Gizmo turned his head slightly then so I could see what looked like a bite mark on his neck, two pitch black spots.

"They got me." He said in the quietest voice I had ever heard before tears suddenly began rolling down his cheeks. "I'm sorry Kyd."

"Kyd Wykkyd get away from him!" Raven cried, but I didn't have time to react.

Suddenly I was being pulled away from Gizmo…but not pulled, pushed away. I was being pushed away by Gizmo's mechanical spider legs until I was against a wall. And then Gizmo exploded.

Black goo erupted from him and went in many different directions, but none reached Raven and I who were far enough away. It literally happened in a second. One moment I was watching Gizmo push me away, the next there was no Gizmo, just black goo that clung against the parts of the ceiling and walls that it could reach. Gizmo never was really big. If that black goo was fit to size it would explain why it didn't reach far.

Tears fell down my face as I thought this but all I wanted to do was laugh. All the guys would have laughed if they heard that joke. Gizmo would have been really mad but he'd laugh about it in private. He'd always try to act bigger than he was, try to be the voice for our group, try to-

I couldn't hold it back any longer. I pulled my legs against my chest and buried myself in my arms and cried. I didn't care that my tears were blood now; I didn't care that a Titan could see everything. I only cared that I would never see my friends again.

**XXXXXX**

Raven watched as the tormented boy cried. She had never seen a villain cry, much less a villain that was for all purposes half demon like herself. But he cried. He hugged himself, his shoulders shook, his hands clenched. He cried just like she did all those times when she believed she would be the end of the world.

The hopelessness. The guilt. The desire to die. These were all familiar feelings to her and it took very long periods of meditation to get over it.

But that's not what Kyd Wykkyd needed now, and certainly not what he wanted. And it was definitely not the sole reason that Raven managed to get through her own problems.

No, not everything can be healed alone.

That's why Raven didn't have second thoughts about approaching him. Or about sitting down beside him. Or about wrapping an arm around his shaking shoulders and resting her head against his. She didn't care if he pushed her away. He needed to know that he was not alone in that moment.

But Kyd Wykkyd didn't try to push her away. Not once.

**XXXXXX**

**To Be Continued…**

**XXXXXX**


End file.
